Start of a Nightmare
by Anticipated Serendipity
Summary: When Amanda, Erin, and Bryanna are sucked into the ninja realm for no explicable reason, all hell breaks loose. Friends become enemies, bonds are broken, and the three girls will never be the same.
1. Start of a Nightmare

Author's Note: Hello, peoples! This is a collab fic between **Axel's Stalker** and myself! There's really not much of a summary, it's just a totally random Naruto fic…and although it might not seem like it at first, there IS a plot! (I know, I know…**Axel's Stalker** is famous for her lack of plots. But this one has a plot!)

**Warning:**** The timeline is incredibly effed up. Deal with it. In this fic, the Naruto characters are 4 years older than the normal series. That would be 2 years AFTER the time skip…and technically Sasuke would be gone, but he's not. **

**Also…this might get a little confusing, but the things in italics are flashbacks to what LED UP TO what's happening in the stuff NOT in italics. I'm not always gonna write "Flashback" or "end flashback" because it's actually one big flashback, it's just broken up by present time things. If you have any questions about what the heck is going on, feel free to ask them in a review. **

Well, enjoy this brand new fic!

**Chapter 1:**

Start of a Nightmare

Kakashi glanced up as the front door of the newest nin team's apartment opened. The eldest girl (by ten days) stood there, gripping her headband with white knuckles, hazel eyes glued to the ground. Her cheeks were flushed and tear-stained, and her eyes were still misty when she finally looked up at him.

Wiping her cheeks with the sleeve of her tan, hooded jacket, she said determinedly, "I'm ready to listen, Kakashi-sensei. Please, teach me." Though her voice was quiet, it was unwavering and strong.

The jounin nodded once, closing his book and heading for the Konoha training field without a word. Quietly and obediently, the girl trailed after him. She glanced at the headband in her hand, wincing slightly as she ran her thumb over the cracks in the metal. How had things gotten so out of hand?

_**Flashback, 24 hours before…**_

"_Bryanna, Amanda! Check it out!" Erin called with excitement, waving to her friends from the middle of the river. Her feet were perched effortlessly atop the current, as though a mythical story had been made real._

_Two of her best friends, Bryanna and Amanda, waved back before the latter returned to her conversation with their sensei—Iruka. The former took a deep breath, focused the chakra in her feet, and bravely trod out towards her friend. Her Walk on Water Jutsu was flawless. Smiling triumphantly, she ran the rest of the way to meet Erin._

"_This is __incredible__!" She breathed, pushing the Konoha headband atop her head a bit farther back. "I never thought this could actually happen to us—I mean, we've had weird stuff like this go on before, with Satoshi and Dark and them, and the Sohmas, but to get into the action like this!" She spoke faster with every excited syllable, making Erin giggle._

"_Calm down, BB—you'll scare Iruka-sensei!" She whispered, not wanting the jounin in question to overhear. Winking, she added, "He might think it's the first time we found out how to use our chakra properly!" Even though it actually was. As calm as she was trying to be, she couldn't help but feel overjoyed. "But our first jutsu, can you believe it?" She turned when she heard someone yelling. It was Iruka and Amanda, calling them back. Sighing, she folded her arms. "Well, that's no fun…what's going on?"_

_Suddenly, Bryanna's giddiness disappeared all at once and her features paled. She gazed in terror over Erin's shoulder and shakily said, "Mrt…I think we'd better get out of here…!" _

_Blinking, the older girl glanced over her shoulder. Instantly her feet were rooted to the spot. "Oh no…"_

_**End flashback…**_

"Would you like to call it a day?" Kakashi offered.

Panting heavily and trying to shift her weight, the adolescent shook her head. "I…swore I'd learn this technique, and…" Throwing a glance forlornly at the discarded headband, she regained her composure and fell back into her fighting stance. "I plan on following through." 'No more broken promises…I'll get stronger. I'll protect them.' She told herself, taking a deep breath and focusing her energy on learning what the silver-haired jounin had to teach her.

Kakashi sighed at her adamancy. "Alright. Let's try again. Focus your chakra—make it take form in your palm." He instructed.

Nodding, she held up her right hand and closed her eyes.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

"_Bryanna, GO!" Erin ordered, shoving her best friend into moving. The horrified girls bolted for the riverbank and while Bryanna made it, Erin's path was cut off by a man standing at least six and a half feet tall, with blue skin and eyes like a shark. There were gill-like markings high on his cheekbones and when he smirked it revealed razor-sharp teeth. His spiky blue hair stuck up, not unlike a fin, his nails were painted black as midnight, and he wore a long black cloak with a high collar and red cloud patterns on it. A huge, bandaged sword with what appeared to be a rounded tip was held expertly in his hand. _

_Only one word echoed in the teenager's mind: 'Shit…'_

_Kisame Hoshigaki chuckled darkly at what he saw in her hazel eyes. "Well, well…look who's on our turf now." His voice was gruff, like she remembered, but for some reason she was more afraid of him here than she had ever been before. Maybe because she knew that here, in his world, he could kill her without a second thought, without wondering if she was useful. Quite simply, she wasn't._

_She tried to regain her composure, to hide her fear. Fat chance. "Hey, K-Kisame…how's life?" She asked in an attempt to act casual._

_His smirk faded and he hefted Samehada onto his shoulders. "I've wanted to see this moment since day one, kid." He growled, swinging the heavy weapon down onto her._

_She yelped, losing her focus and consequently sinking into the river's depths before the blade touched her. When she finally registered what had happened, she composed herself and opened her eyes, swimming to shore. 'I hope BB and Amanda got away…' Her mind reminded her as she came up for air at last—only to be grabbed by the back of her dark purple, almost form-fitting t-shirt and yanked violently onto dry land. Coughing and sputtering, she shoved away from another man in a black, red-clouded cloak and squirmed against the thing holding her shirt. Apparently, they were one in the same. _

_The young, raven-haired man grabbed her wrists tightly so she couldn't use her jutsu or weapons. "Kisame," He instructed, "hold her still. If the others are to escape unscathed, then we'll just have to give their punishment to her."_

_Erin recognized the voice. Half-glaring at him through fear-filled eyes as Kisame secured his arms around her wriggling form, pinning her own limbs to her sides, she cried, "Itachi, what did I ever do to you, huh?" She was scared—more scared than she had ever been in her whole life. Itachi and Kisame had never been like this in her world; why had they changed so much? _

_Itachi glared at her, his Sharingan activated. Letting go of her wrists, he caught her chin roughly in one hand and forced her to meet his gaze. "You exist."_

VVVVVVVVVVV

The electric blue energy that had formed around her palm sparked dangerously as she tried to stabilize it, to keep it from fading. It was difficult—her chakra was running low, and her body was straining from exhaustion—but she refused to let it go.

"Good. Very good." Kakashi nodded his approval, glancing around for a target. "Now, can you release it?"

Grimacing as she tried continuously to hold onto the energy, the teen also shot a glance all around. "Possibly…" She grunted, feeling her fingers shaking. The jounin pointed to a boulder not far off.

"Do you remember the form?"

Swallowing, she nodded.

"That's your target."

Another nod.

"Alright—go."

Shifting her weight, the girl pushed off with her left foot and sprinted towards the rock, still focusing the chakra in her palm. Ignoring the pain in every muscle of her body, she hurled the sparking blue energy at the boulder.

After the smoke cleared, she stood in front of the rock—which now had a decently large crater in it. Her chest heaved with her ragged breathing and under her weight, her knees buckled. There was someone holding her up before she could fall and she heard the voice of her sensei at her side.

"Congratulations, Erin. You've learned the Chidori."

VVVVVVVVVVVV

_When Erin woke up, she couldn't move her body. She groaned, flexing her fingers and blinking to clear her blurred vision. What she couldn't move, her wrists, arms and legs, ached dully from either lack of movement or something else. Shifting as much as she could, she yelped. A burning pain surged through her entire body when she moved, and she deduced that Itachi and Kisame had not been merciful. As she recalled what really happened, a shiver went down her spine._

_They had at least released her, given her a chance to fight back; not that it mattered much. Between the two of them she had all but given up on trying to attack and instead took to dodging. Even that proved nearly impossible. They had two things she lacked: speed and power._

_The odds against her proved too much. Before she knew it, her energy was gone and she was bleeding from more places than was probably safe. Kisame and Itachi looked satisfied and the latter stepped towards her, making her cringe. She was on her knees, breathing heavily and tasting blood when she coughed. Was he going to use his mind shatter on her? The thought terrified her more than the thought of dying._

_Before she could try to get up and away, the Uchiha closed his fingers around her throat and lifted her until her feet didn't touch the ground. Instinctively, she grabbed his wrist and tried to pry his hand from her airway. At least she could breathe._

"_Tell your little friends," He glared darkly at her, tightening his grip, "that they're next." _

_Itachi's words echoed in her mind now as she fought weakly against the ropes that bound her arms and legs. Every move she made hurt, but she had to find her friends. Another involuntary groan escaped her lips, sparking a coughing fit that brought the taste of blood back to her tongue. Catching her breath and shivering, she curled up as much as she could and closed her eyes. 'Amanda…Bryanna…Iruka-sensei…' She hoped they were safe._

_As the world around her started to fade into blackness, she vaguely heard someone calling her name._

VVVVVVVVVVV

Her nap had helped a lot.

Erin stood in the hospital lobby, messing with the zipper on her jacket and staring blankly at the floor. She had used nail polish remover from home to take off the black nail polish on her finger and toenails, choosing instead a dark shade of purple. The color peeked out at her from under her sandals, which were the same style as Naruto's, yet black. They had been a gift, she recalled, from Bryanna's mother, before they had come to Konoha. Her hazel eyes grew misty as she thought about it, and she quickly pulled herself together as a nurse came into the room.

"You can go in now." She said warmly, returning to her desk and filing something.

Taking a deep, anxious breath, she headed down the hall until she reached a door numbered 203. Her hand rested uneasily on the handle, and she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

What she saw when she went in almost made her laugh with relief. Sitting up on the bed, elbows on the windowsill and writing hastily on a piece of white-lined paper, was a girl about her age with short, dark-brown hair and russet eyes behind purple-framed glasses. She twitched every few seconds as her pencil met the paper, and she was so deep in her writing that she didn't even hear the door open.

Unable to hold herself back anymore, Erin ran across the room, pounced onto the bed, and threw her arms around the other girl. "Bryanna, I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried, burying her face in her best friend's shirt.

Bryanna half-laughed as she put her pencil down and returned Erin's embrace. "It's good to see you too, Mrt!" She said happily as Erin let go. Puzzled, she added, "What happened to your headband?"

The older girl's cheeks flushed as she adjusted the headband, which hung from around her neck. "I'd rather not talk about it." She admitted, pulling a small package out of her jacket pocket and giving it to Bryanna. "I bought this on my way here today. It's a little cliché, but I hope you like it."

Tilting her head to the side, the younger girl opened the package and smiled broadly. The necklace she pulled out was silver, with a small key for a pendant. Engraved on one side was her names, and in the other side was the Konoha symbol and "BB". "It's awesome! Thanks so much!" She said gratefully, hugging Erin again. As she hooked it around her neck, the older girl pulled an identical key pendant from under her shirt. "I've got one for Amanda, too. How is she?" Tucking the necklace safely back under her clothing, she braced herself for news on her other friend.

Bryanna's smile faltered and she shook her head. "I don't know. No one's talked to me in a few days- besides that freaky Itachi guy." Shivering, she shook her head again.

There was a pause as the words sunk in. "BB…" Erin began unsurely. "It's only been a day since you…" Suddenly she stopped, deciding to not worry her friend. "Well, I'd better go check on Amanda. I'll come see you again soon, Bry." She got up off the bed and waved mildly.

As she walked down the hallway to the next room, her mind flooded with questions and fears about what Bryanna had said. Three days had most definitely not passed since Itachi and Kisame had entered Konoha- it had barely been one. The only explanation was that Itachi used Tsukuyomi on her best friend. Suddenly the beating she'd received didn't seem so bad.

Her hand rested on the doorknob of Room 205 and she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Would she ever stop crying? Taking a deep breath, she turned the knob and entered the room.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

"_Is she breathing?"_

"_Yeah, see? I can see her chest moving."_

"_I'M NOT GONNA LOOK AT HER CHEST, YOU PERV!!"_

"_Naruto, sit down and shut up.!"_

_Groaning, Erin slowly opened her eyes and sheepishly attempted to move. Her wrists and ankles were no longer bound, and her body didn't ache as badly as it had. Someone had bandaged her up. She wondered distantly if it was within her to sit up._

"_Hey, are you awak?" The voice was female, and slightly familiar. She shifted again._

"_Man, this is so troublesome…" Male, and definitely recognizable._

"_Ngh…" She managed to mumble, easing herself into a sitting position. Her muscles throbbed dully as she looked around. There were six people in the room- four teens, two adults; two girls and four boys. She recognized them all, but didn't have the energy to say anything. Glancing over at the silver-haired jounin on he left, she put on her best puzzled look. "What's going on?" She asked, her voice hoarse. Suddenly she snapped to attention. "Where's Bryanna and Amanda, and Iruka-sensei? Did they get away? Is Itachi still in Konoha? How long has it been?!" She asked frantically, clearly panicking._

_The man put a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Erin. It's only been a few hours since you've been out." He assured calmly. "Iruka told me about you and your friends. He's alright, and they… will be fine in a few days."_

_Terror settled in, weighing heavily on her stomach. She felt for an instant that she might throw up. "Bryanna and Amanda… What happened to them? She demanded to know, trying not to glare at him or reveal the fact that she was shaking._

_A pause followed, and the thickness of the tension mounting was clear._

_The jounin finally spoke. "They'll be __fine__, don't worry." Despite the atmosphere, he still managed to stay absolutely calm. "Maybe we should introduce ourselves. I'm Hatake Kakashi."_

_The blonde girl with blue, pupil less eyes spoke up. "My name's Yamanaka Ino, and this is Nara Shikamaru."_

_A boy beside her waved a little, looking bored._

"_I'm Haruno Sakura." The pink-haired girl said._

_The blonde boy in an orange jumpsuit leapt to his feet. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage one day!"_

_Finally, the white-haired older man spoke. "I'm Jiraiya, the Toad Sage… Naruto, sit __down__."_

"_Look," Erin interrupted, shaking her head a little. "It's nice to meet you all, but I've got bigger things to worry about right now. __Where__ are my friends?" She pressed._

_Another silence followed her question. Naruto slowly sat back down._

_Sakura cleared her throat. "They're at the hospital... um…"_

"_Itachi and Kisame got to both of them." Kakashi told her._

_Erin's heart almost stopped._

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Amanda didn't seem to notice the door to her room opening or Erin walking in. the young blonde had her hospital bed adjusted to a 'sitting up' position with her hands folded neatly on her lap. Her blue eyes were clouded and distant as they continued to stare out of her bedside window. Amanda's right forearm was bandaged and tinged with crimson. Erin hesitantly walked to the bedside.

"Um, hey Amanda. How are you feeling?" Her voice was sympathetic and unsure. Amanda merely blinked slowly in response. Not wanting to be left with uncomfortable silence, Erin tried something else.

"Bryanna's fine, and the medic nins said that you might be able to leave soon. The you can train with me! Isn't that great?" Her voice echoed into nothing; Amanda gave no indication that she was listening. A tense silence filled the white-themed room. Erin shuffled her feet. What had happened to her friend? She paced her hands on the edge on the bed, one on top of the other.

"Amanda, I-"

"Why?" Amanda's voice was weak; her gaze never left the window.

"Huh?" The question had surprised Erin. "Why what?"

"Why did he do it?"

VVVVVVVVVVVV

_Amanda struggled against Iruka's hold on her wrist as he dragged her away, fleeing from the men. She clawed at his hand with her free one._

"_Stop! Let go! We have to help her!" The last thing she had seen was Kisame's back blocking Erin from view._

"_IRUKA! LET ME-"_

"_It's too dangerous, Amanda! We need more help!"_

"_NO!" Amanda broke from her sensei's grasp and made her way back to the water. Iruka had gotten her much farther away than she had first thought. 'Come on, come on! Faster!' Amanda never reached her destination. An all to familiar black-haired young man stood in her path and she skidded to a halt._

"_Itachi… why?" Her blue eyes were wide and pleading. His crimson eyes were piercing and cold._

"_I thought-"_

"_You thought wrong, Amanda." Itachi's voice was emotionless and chilling. Amanda's heart seemed to stab through her chest. Back in her own world, they had- or she thought they had- developed a tacit bond to each. He kept her safe and comforted, she accepted him for who he was._

_While she was distracted with her thoughts, Itachi had activated his Mangekyuo Sharingan._

"_Amanda, look at me." And of course, being the trusting girl she was, she did._

VVVVVVVVVVVV

A stray tear crawled down Amanda's pale cheek. Her voice cracked when she spoke.

"Erin, how could he do it?" When Amanda was brought to the hospital, she was on the verge of a literal mental breakdown; she refused to say what had happened to her. If she did it probably would have given her that final push over the line.

Glancing away for a moment, Erin tried to gather her thoughts without having a meltdown of her own. Knowing what had actually become of her friends was both a relief and a burden, especially since she knew the one painful fact that ate away at her; Itachi and Kisame had gotten away with their crimes. She still didn't understand what had caused such a horribly drastic change in the way the two Akatsuki members treated them. It irritated her.

"I don't know, 'Manda-cha." She admitted, looking back up and wiping the blonde's few tears away with her sleeve. "But I do know that we've got to do something, fast. We could really be killed here if we aren't careful." She spoke as gently as she could, carefully hugging the younger girl.

Of course, other than training, there was much they could do.

Pulling away, Erin slid another parcel out of her jacket pocket and set it on Amanda's lap. "I got these for all three of us… I hope you like it." Not knowing what else to say to console her friend, she stood up to leave.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

"_Wha…what'd you mean? What's wrong with them?" Erin asked quietly, trying desperately not to panic. It wasn't working out too well._

_Kakashi stood, leaving the book he was reading on the floor. "Can you stand?" he asked, still remaining calm under the circumstances. Erin glanced up at him, fear clear in her hazel eyes as she nodded a little and eased herself onto her feet. Her balance was a bit questionable, but she was up. Nodding, the jounin waved to the other people in the room and motioned for her to follow him as he left._

_Obediently, she trailed after him. There was an awful feeling in her stomach that wouldn't let her be as she followed him the short distance to the medical compound. God, she hoped her friends were alright; not dying or in need of amputation or any other horrible thing that she didn't wish to think about. Sighing, she glanced sidelong at the young man walking in front of her. Part of her wanted to start a conversation, but she knew her voice would be shaking and she was afraid that she'd be sick if she opened her mouth._

_After some thought, she took a deep breath. "Um… Kakashi-sensei? Sir?" Just as she'd suspected, her voice trembled with her fear._

_Kakashi glanced back at her with the one eyes he always let show. "You can just call me Kakashi- you're not my, student after all." He stated politely, probably sensing her panic._

_She lowered her head a little. "Force of habit, sorry… But… I was hoping you could warn me as to what condition my friends are in…" She felt herself choke a little, but pressed on. "Just so I'm not hit too hard, or surprised by anything."_

"_You're very insightful." He told her almost approvingly. "Well…" Turning his gaze back to the road, he began to explain. "Bryanna was… in a coma when we brought her to the compound, and Amanda seemed to be a little out of touch with her surroundings. She moved when we asked her to, but didn't say a word and was unresponsive to anything we said or did. She had a small wound on her arm, but nothing too serious." Stopping in front of the door to the medically compound, her turned to look at her._

_Erin registered everything he said, trying not to picture her best friend in a coma or her hyperactive friend not talking in the sugar-induced rush that she'd thought was so much fun. She wiped her eyes on the back of one bandaged arm, carefully pulling on her tan hooded jacket over her bandages. Her legs ached and her left shoulder throbbed painfully. "Thank you, Kakashi-sensei." She murmured quietly, following him into the hospital without another word._

VVVVVVVVVVVV

She stopped with her hand on the door. "Amanda," She said quietly, glancing back at the younger girl. "I _have_ been training…I learned the Chidori, and…when the time comes, I plan on challenging those bastards." Her tone was determined, even tinted with anger. "If they're going to be unmerciful, then we will too."

Slowly, Amanda looked down at the package that had been placed on her lap. In her mind she was registering the simplest of commands; pick up, open. She did. She felt the cool metal of the key against her palm before she actually identified it as a key. The chain told her it was a necklace; put on, her brain told her. With just a ghost of a smile, she turned her gaze to Erin by the door and was able to, for the most part, listen as she spoke. By the time Erin finished, it seemed that somewhere, a small piece of Amanda's former self had found its way back. Her voice carried emotion, but cracked when she spoke.

"Th-thank you, Erin." Amanda placed a weak hand over the key, some light returning to her eyes before fading again into dullness. She looked back to the window as another memory reared its ugly head.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

_Amanda's shaky figure lay crumpled on the ground, trying to breathe heavily. Her eyes were 'grey' and distant, and she could only mentally panic when Itachi's sandals entered her line of vision. 'Oh God no…' She thought desperately. 'Please…not again…' For what felt like a lifetime, Amanda had been ensnared in Itachi's genjutsu. The only thing keeping her from breaking down completely were the thoughts of her friends and family she may never see again. She just needed something real to hold on to…but after everything that she'd been through, nothing seemed real anymore._

_Itachi's sinister chuckle tore through Amanda's mind. She wanted to leap at him, to scream at him, to just shut him up. But she knew she couldn't. The last thing she remembered was Itachi's back, leaving her. Leaving her there to die…leaving her alone._

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Amanda's eyes glazed over, and her voice took on a high-pitched, airy tone.

"Erin?"

"Yeah?"

The mentally unstable blonde was silent for a moment.

"Erin…train hard."

Smiling a little bit, Erin nodded. "I will. You get better soon, okay?" She said softly, waving a little and leaving the room.

The teenager waited until she was outside of the medical compound to sit down, curl up into a tight ball and start sobbing. What else could go wrong?

**End Chapter 1**

Notes: Wow…that was…intense…? I'm not entirely sure how to categorize that. Well, like I said before, if there are any questions as to what the heck is going on, go right ahead and ask them. That's what the review button is for!

There isn't a lot more to say, except that the next chapter could take awhile. Hope you're satiated with this one! Enjoy!


	2. Lazy Days

**Author:** Hey, look! We live!

This chapter is dedicated to our one faithful reviewer! We're quite positive they may have given up on us….they've been waiting for months. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for the wait! (Hopefully.) Without further ado, let's begin!

_Start of a Nightmare_

_**Chapter 2: Lazy Days**_

"That one kinda looks like a bunny," Erin giggled for the first time in a few months as she pointed to a cloud drifting lazily through the blue sky overhead. She lay on her back, her jacket folded up and used as a pillow as she stared up at the beautiful sky. Days like today reminded her of home, and why she was training so hard to begin with. Her hands were folded on her stomach, black fingerless gloves still in good shape despite the wear and tear they'd faced in the past four or five months.

"I hope not…bunny clouds foretell of doom and certain disaster,"

Registering this, she rolled her onto her side and propped herself up with one arm. "Do you even _hear_ yourself talk, Sasuke?" She challenged, looking at the boy like he had two heads. "Or is there just this high-pitched whining noise in your ear?"

The younger Uchiha smirked a little, never opening his onyx eyes. "How's your training going?" He changed the subject effectively.

Sighing, she rolled onto her back again and winced a little when her left shoulder hit the ground a bit roughly. "Not bad…I'm nowhere _near_ where I'd like to be, though," she admitted, fumbling with the key pendant around her neck. He saw the motion, knowing that she always messed with the necklace when she was thinking.

Glancing at her features, her hazel eyes staring thoughtfully into the sky, he said, "I saw Bryanna and Amanda the other day. They look like they're doing just fine."

She nodded once, humming quietly in response. Silence ensued.

After a few minutes, Sasuke spoke again. He had been speaking up more lately, especially when he was around her, and though it was strange and out of character for him he didn't mind it. "Kakashi told me you're almost at jounin level."

Erin closed her eyes. "It's no big deal. I'm still not where I'd like to be," she stated simply.

He sat up, staring in disbelief at her. "And where, may I ask, is that?" He inquired, blinking when her expression didn't change. Kakashi hadn't told him much—only that the girl was nearing jounin very quickly. Bryanna told him that she and Amanda had been doing nothing but train for months—they hadn't even had much time to spend with each other. Erin barely ate, slept a few hours a night…the younger brunette was starting to worry.

She thought for a minute, gently massaging her aching shoulder. "Strong enough…to defeat those assholes."

_Flashback…_VVVVVVVVV_…Three months earlier…_

_Rain pounded on the windowpane mercilessly. With each passing second, the pain got worse. Blood spilled onto the living room carpet as the scaly blade's edge sliced deeper into her shoulder. Her strangled screams echoed dully off the walls of the semi-empty apartment, and hot tears burned her cheeks. After all her training, she still couldn't stop this._

_"That's right, kid—scream. I hope like _hell _this hurts," the wielder of the broad, heavy sword growled, sinking his weapon even deeper into her flesh and earning another pained cry. _

_"Kisame," a bored voice said, coming from a black-haired younger man standing near the door. "That's enough. Her teammates will be here soon."_

_Looking disappointed, the swordsman slid the shredding blade out of the sobbing girl's flesh. "Damn…you're such a kill-joy, Itachi," he muttered, turning back to his victim. "Something to remind you who you're dealing with, _brat_." He spat as the two of them disappeared._

_Aside from her whimpering, there was no sound. Clutching her left arm and trying to get a grip on herself, she cried, "Bryanna…Amanda…Thank God you weren't here…"_

VVVVVVVVV

"Erin?" Sasuke nudged her with his elbow, pulling her back to the moment at hand.

She glanced at him, still thinking about the pain in her shoulder. The wound—shredded gash—that Kisame had given her hadn't healed. According to Kakashi, it never would—not fully, anyways. He'd used specially jutsu'd bandages to cover it, to keep it from bleeding or bothering her too much. It often interfered with her training. "I'm like you, Sasuke. I need to get stronger so that I can fight Kisame and win. But more than that…" she clenched her fist, glaring determinedly at the bunny cloud overhead. "I'm gonna murder Itachi for what he did to my friends. I'll _never_ forgive him."

Before Sasuke could ask, someone called out Erin's name. The girl got to her feet, grabbing her jacket and the bag she usually carried. It was dark blue with a wide red and white strap that went over her shoulder comfortably, and he knew that she kept her sketchbook, a few notebooks, and a red folder in there. She slung it over her shoulder, the right one, and glanced at the charcoal-haired Uchiha. He really did look like his brother.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Sasuke," she said, smiling a little as she walked away.

"Erin!" Amanda called out again. Ever since she'd been released from the hospital, she'd been training as hard as possible to make up for… lost time. After the first month or so, her mental condition had gradually "improved"… well, as far as her friends were concerned it had. At first she was distant, then her smiles were obviously forced, but after some practice only Amanda could tell the difference between her usual fake smiles, and the occasional real one.

"Hey, Manda!"

"Hey, Erin! How's the training coming along? Sasuke being emo?"

"Heh, yeah, he said my bunny cloud stood for doom and destruction… or something along those lines. Hey, did you just come from training?" At first glance, Amanda looked bright and well-kept, but upon closer inspection one would see otherwise. There were dark shadows under her eyes and it seemed like she was too weak to keep her eyelids more than halfway up. Amanda often walked with a slight limp and she favored her left arm. The girl smiled.

"Yep! Indeed I did! I ran into Neji and he decided to help me. He knows some pretty sweet moves if I do say so myself." Amanda subconsciously placed a hand on her side where Neji had landed a pretty nasty blow. Using her best guesstimation skills, Amanda decided that her rib had cracked; not broken, just cracked. Erin seemed to notice the wince.

"Ouch…" she mumbled out sympathetically.

"Meh, don't worry about it. Hey! Do you want to see Neji and me spar? I'm sure he's still back there." Amanda smiled hopefully. It was fun to have an audience every once in a while, especially when that audience was _curren__t__ly_ on a higher level than you. Erin's voice took on a worried tone.

"Amanda… do you really think you should spar with that injury? She glanced at Amanda's rib. The blonde's expression hardest just the slightest bit.

"I told you not to worry about it. You don't have to watch if you're worried, and besides, I can hardly feel it." Amanda put on a playfully cocky face. In truth, her rib hurt like hell when she twisted the wrong way, but she had to work through the pain. "So, how 'bout it?"

Erin hesitated, but then smiled. "Alright, alright, I'll come and make sure you don't kill yourself."

"Yay! Come on, let's go!" Amanda then proceeded to drag Erin back the way she had come, where Neji was most likely waiting.

VVVVVVV

"Okay, ready?" Erin raised her arm above her head and stood between the two opponents; Neji and Amanda. They took their stances. "GO!" She swung her arm down and leapt back, watching anxiously.

Neji was relentless, as Amanda had requested, and Amanda was able to hold her own against the Hyuga prodigy for quite some time. But as the sun maneuvered across the sky, it was obvious how hard it was becoming for her to keep a constant speed.

"Maybe you should call it quits, Amanda," Erin called out.

"No…" Amanda breathed.

Neji stopped his onslaught for a moment. "You should listen to her,"

"NO! We keep going!"

And they did. Neji landed more and more hits, but Amanda refused to stay down. Finally, after hours of sparring, it was over. Amanda went to perform a jutsu and it failed, signifying that her chakra had been drained just enough to deprive the young girl of her techniques. Neji took it as a red light and stepped back, letting the injured girl catch her breath.

Erin took it as time to call it. "This fight is over. Winner is Hyuga Neji—Amanda, _stop_!" She ran over and grabbed her friend's wrist, holding her back before she could try and get back into the fight.

Panting, and clearly exhausted, the blonde shook her head. "I'm _fine_—let me go!" She ordered.

Holding tightly to her friend, Erin yelled, "If you keep going like this, you'll _die_. Stop pushing yourself!" When the younger girl stopped struggling and glanced at her worried friend, she went on. "Part of nearing the jounin level is knowing your limits, and knowing when to quit." She sighed in relief when Amanda gave in and leaned against her for support. (Ignoring the fact that it was her left shoulder, which hurt like a bitch at that moment. She'd have to remember to ask Kakashi to reapply the jutsu.) "Thank God…" she breathed.

Neji walked forward, helping her keep the blonde upright. "I can take her back to the apartment, if you'd like to continue training," he offered.

Erin smiled knowingly, but shook her head. "Nah—I'm done for the day. Besides, we've got some stuff to catch up on," she explained, pulling her friend's arm over her shoulders and holding onto her belt with the other hand. "We'll see you later, Neji."

"Mmph," Amanda grunted, waving slightly.

Neji shrugged. "Alright,"

VVVVVVV

"Ein, quit it!" Erin commanded, taking the barking corgi by the collar and pulling him away from the door. Picking the small dog up, she shushed him. "Manda-chan is _sleeping_, Ein!" She hissed, using her free hand to open the door. Blinking, she smiled. "Kakashi-sensei!"

She could tell he was smiling. "May I come in?"

Nodding, she clamped a hand over Ein's muzzle and stepped aside to let him through. "I'm really impressed with the improvement in Amanda," she stated, closing the door behind him. "Is she training with Iruka-sensei?" Putting the dog down, she sat on the couch in the living room of their apartment.

Kakashi shook his head, leaning against one wall and ignoring the corgi that was sniffing him. "Actually, Iruka had to return to his sensei position at the academy. Amanda's training continued under the Toad Sage."

Erin choked on the iced tea she was drinking. "Jiraiya?! That old pervert?" She tried to keep her voice down, staring at the jounin like he was insane. 'What did she do to deserve such a cruel and unusual punishment?"

He shrugged. "If you were Iruka's position, what would you have done?"

"Couldn't _you_ train her, Kakashi-sensei?"

He shook his head. "I've got you and Sasuke to worry about. Once the Chunin Exams come up I'll have another student to worry about as well."

She sighed, folding her arms. "But Jiraiya is busy training Naruto, isn't he?"

"He can handle a student like Amanda. According to him, she's a miracle compared to Naruto."

Holding back a laugh, she smiled. "That's Naruto," she stated, glancing at the door to Amanda's room. "She's pushing herself awfully hard though."

He nodded. "She's trying to make up for the time she spent in the hospital," he explained, scratching behind Ein's ear when the corgi jumped up and put his paws on the wall for support.

Lowering her gaze, Erin nodded a little. "Yeah, that's right too…" she murmured thoughtfully.

VVVVVVV

_"Erin,"_

_The older girl repositioned Amanda's weight on her injured shoulder. __"Yeah?"_

_"How long will it be until you become as strong as Kakashi?"_

_"Jounin level?"__ Erin shrugged a little. "Not sure. __'__Nother__ few weeks, a month maybe.__ Why?"_

_Amanda remained silent, causing Erin to grow concerned. Was Amanda planning on doing something stupid and life-threatening again? She asked again in a firmer voice._

_"Why, Amanda?" Erin stopped walking, a gesture of 'we're not going until you tell me.' _

_Amanda's blue eyes gave the ground a hard stare. She seemed to be contemplating something._

_To lighten the suddenly tense, foreboding feeling in the air, Erin added a playful tone to her voice. "You plan on telling me sometime soon? Before I get all old and wrinkly?" _

_There was no hint of amusement on Amanda's face. The younger girl closed her eyes slowly and turned away. "No, it's nothing. I just wanted to know." Though her voice was smooth, Erin could tell she was lying. But sadly, she already knew the answer. __A month.__ Amanda now knew she had a month to either meet up with or surpass Erin, more likely the former. Erin now regretted giving the answer. _

_"Amanda-__" Erin__ started, but was cut off._

_"-I said it was nothing." Amanda's voice was low; Erin wouldn't be gettin__g a good response anytime soon. Startling Erin slightly, Amanda pushed away from her, obviously struggling just to stand. Without looking back at Erin, she began to limp off in the direction of the apartment. Erin knew she hadn't pushed away out of anger; it was out of defiance. With a few quick steps she was once again at Amanda's side._

_"You shouldn't be-__" Again__ she was cut off, this time by the look in Amanda's eye. It said 'don'-help-me-unless-I-faint, I'm-going-to-do-this.' And that's just what she did; fainted. Her body couldn't take the strain and finally gave way to exhaustion._

_Sighing, Erin somewhat more difficultly, repositioned Amanda once again and got her to the apartment._

VVVVVVV

Amanda woke up to the sound of voices. Pulling her senses out of sleep, she recognized one as Kakashi and the other as Erin. Amanda stretched, immediately cringing and placing a hand on her injured rib when a sharp wave of pain shot through her. It was healing, just not quick enough for her tastes. She stifled a yawn and quietly got out of bed.

She dressed quietly, careful not to show signs that she was awake yet. She could hear Erin's conversation with Kakashi. Tying her Konoha headband around her forehead, Amanda stood in front of her door. She heard Erin's voice trail off and decided now was the best time. She opened her door nonchalantly and stepped out, casually walking past the others without saying a word, grabbing her weapons pouch and knapsack from the sofa, Amanda turned and walked past Kakashi, opening the front door.

"'Kay Erin, I'm going out! I'll be back later!" Her voice was her usual cheery one. Before she got two feet out the door, she was pulled back inside, the door now closed.

"Hey, what's-"

"You're not going anywhere, Amanda." Erin's voice had an amused, sarcastic ring to it. Amanda turned. Kakashi had been the one to pull her back, his hand still placed firmly on her upper arm, and Erin had slammed the door closed. Amanda's voice took on an agitated whininess. .

"And why not?"

The look on Erin's face went from stern, to 'you-don't-honestly-think-I'm-stupid-do-you?' in no time at all. "Let's review, shall we?" She suggested, not leaving room for argument. Leaning against the door, crossing her ankles and folding her arms, she pretended to think. "You've cracked a rib, ultimately drained your chakra and energy, and almost _killed_ yourself training in _less_ than 24 hours. I don't care _who_ your new sensei is," she shook her head. "You're staying _here_ until your rib heals, and if I have to tie you down to make it happen, I _will_."

Kakashi chuckled a little and glanced at Amanda. "She makes a good argument." He pointed out.

Before Amanda could argue, the door opened and forced Erin to move. Bryanna's head poked in, followed by the rest of her.

"Hey, guys! What'd I miss?" She asked cheerily as she closed the door behind her. She pet Ein when he ran to greet her, smiling at Kakashi. "Hi, Kakashi! What're _you_ doing here?"

"Helping," Kakashi replied simply.

"BB, we might need to tie Manda-chan down." Erin explained, her tone serious. She wasn't afraid to do whatever it took to keep Amanda from killing herself.

Blinking, Bryanna folded her hands behind her back. "Well, I _came _to see if you guys wanted to go swimming."

Kakashi took a quick note of Erin's hesitation, speaking up. "It sounds like a good idea."

Erin bit her lower lip. A bit of fun wouldn't hurt, and it may have been just what they needed. "Who else is going?" She asked.

Bryanna thought for a moment. "Um… Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke, Tenten, and Kiba."

"That's my BB-chan!" Erin said proudly, smiling. "Alright, why not? Let's go SWIMMING!!!"

VVVVVVV

"AKAMAAAAARUUUUUU!"

"ARF!"

"I HEART YOOOUUU!"

"ERIN, let go of Akamaru already!"

Pouting, Erin cuddled the large white-and-brown mutt. "You're no fun!" She whined.

"Arf!" The canine licked her cheek before she released him. He instinctively ran back over to Kiba, who half-glared at Erin. She laughed.

"Sorry,Kiba!"

"Um… E-excuse, Erin, b-but…" A quiet voice spoke up.

She turned and smiled sweetly. "What's up, Hinata-chan?"

Hinata's lavender eyes glanced at the bandages on the older girl's left shoulder. "W-Well, I, um…"

Before she could finish, Tenten stepped up beside her. "What happened to your shoulder?" she asked curiously, obviously taking Hinata's question.

Erin's smile faded just a little and she sat cross-legged on the grass, listening to the water splashing as Amanda and Bryanna jumped into the river. She glanced for a second at the bandages, grateful that the wound didn't hurt. (Kakashi had just barely used his ninjustu on it). "It's a long story, Tenten." She said, forcing the smile back onto her face. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to go jump into the river." Standing back up, she ran to the bridge and leapt off, splashing into the cool water.

When she came back up for air, she swore. "Holy shit, it's _cold_!" she cried breathlessly, treading water for a second before swimming over to her friends. She snuck up behind Amanda and tackle-hugged her as much as she could in the water. "Hiya, Manda-chan!"

"EEP!" Thoroughly frightened, Amanda's swimming became a frantic thrashing, which caused her to slip under the surface. Prying Erin's arms from their death grip around her neck, Amanda kicked up and eagerly swallowed mouthfuls of air. "ERIN!"

"Yes, Manda-chan?" Amanda spun in the water to face Erin, glaring.

"I THOUGHT you wanted me to get BETTER."

"Of course I do." Erin smiled innocently.

"Psh, yeah, right, and a monkey stole my tuba."

"But you don't play the tu-"

"Yes, Erin, I know." Amanda sighed and rubbed her temples. Oi, what a day.

"ARF!" SPLASH!

"Hey!" Oh yes, what a day. Akamaru doggie-paddled in circles around a giggling Erin as Amanda shook water from her ear. "Mangy little-"

"ARF! ARF!" Sighing in defeat, Amanda placed a hand over her injured rib. "Erin? I'm going downstream a bit where it's a little… calmer." Erin looked hesitant about responding. She eyed Amanda carefully before saying anything she might regret later.

"Well… alright… but I'm going to check on you to make sure you're still there!" Amanda rolled her eyes dramatically and smiled.

"Okay, okay, I get it, alright?" Laughing lightly, Amanda gave Erin, Bryanna, and Akamaru a little splash before drifting further down the river.

VVVVVVV

"Ah, perfect." Amanda had been delighted to discover a small hot spring bubbling up from the river bottom. The water was calm there, and if she didn't create any disturbances, the water around her would heat and bubble. Her back rested against a smooth boulder and her eyelids slowly drifted down, until she was lost in a reverie of good times and happy faces.

Amanda's peaceful thoughts were corrupted when she sensed a disturbance in the brush behind her. Crouching even lower in the water, she peered cautiously around the rock. Nothing. There was nobody there.

"Strange, I could have sworn…" She gasped and was unwillingly spun around when two firmly gentle hands grabbed a hold of her arms. She was forcefully, but carefully pushed back until she was pressed against the wet boulder. Her eyes were squeezed shut. She was afraid to open them, afraid of who she might see.

Amanda could feel the gentle swoosh of air on her face whenever her captor took a breath. It was chilling. Just as she expected things to get much worse, a familiar chuckle reached her ears.

"Why are you blushing when you didn't even know who I was?" Amanda opened her eyes and was greeted by the all too familiar cocky expression of Neji Hyuga. A smirk played over his features and Amanda found her voice.

"Because close physical contact, er, bothers me…"

A spark of mischief flashed through Neji's light lavender eyes. "Really? How interesting,"

Amanda eyed him nervously, unable to get away because he still had her pinned.

"So…" he spoke nonchalantly. "…what if I were to, I don't know, do this?" Before Amanda could react, Neji placed both her wrists in one hand and brought his free arm to rest on the stone next to her head. This allowed him to lean in more.

The younger girl could feel her cheeks burn and she instinctively attempted to tug her wrists free. "Let me go…Neji…" Her voice was shaky with embarrassment. "Come on! It's not funny…"

"Actually…" his voice was low and smooth as he leaned in closer to her, speaking close to her ear. "…it's _hysterical_."

Amanda naturally kept her eyes securely closed, wishing to end her extreme discomfort. Just as she was reaching her breaking point, there was an odd pull of water and a splashing noise. Neji had jumped away from her a good eight or so feet, smirking playfully.

After staring at him for a moment in disbelief, she dove under the water, purposefully splashing him, and began to swim upstream where there were more witnesses.

Before she had gotten five feet from her starting point, Amanda felt a hand secure around her ankle. One thought crossed her mind the second before she was pulled back; 'Erin, I wish you had said "no."'

Meanwhile, back upstream, Erin and Bryanna were sitting on the bank, shivering and clutching towels around themselves. "I wonder where Amanda is? She's been gone for awhile now," Bryanna said thoughtfully.

"She's probably fine…Neji's with her, don't forget," Erin pointed out, winking knowingly. She shielded herself with her towel as Akamaru shook the water out of his fur.

Suddenly Bryanna looked up at her best friend. Narrowing her russet eyes, she said, "You evil, conniving little Mrt! How could you play the evil matchmaker?"

Erin waved dismissively. "_Please_—I know she likes Neji, and he likes her! I'm just giving them a gentle nudge," she assured, smirking a little and running a hand through her wet, dark-brown hair. Standing up, she let her towel fall off her shoulders and stretched lazily towards the reddening sky. She winced a little at the twinge of pain in her left shoulder, hazel eyes shifting towards the setting sun.

"Y'know…" she sighed contentedly, smiling. "It's days like this that remind me how much I love it here." Yawning, she grabbed her pants and pulled them on over her still-damp bathing suit. Picking up her jacket and carefully sliding her arms into the sleeves, she said, "I'm going for a walk. I'll be back in a little bit!" Waving, the teenage girl headed down the river bank.

Before she got too far, she noticed the presence of a certain emo Uchiha beside her. She glanced at him questioningly, but he only smirked and kept his onyx eyes on the path ahead of them. They were silent for a little while.

Erin never _could_ tolerate silence for too long. It was awkward. So, sucking up her courage, she spoke. "Kakashi-sensei said you and I are gonna start training together more often soon."

Sasuke nodded. "We are," he said simply, hands buried deep in his pockets.

She cleared her throat, shifting a little. "Will you go easy on me?"

Still smirking, he glanced at her. "No,"

She nodded. "Good,"

After a moment, he looked up. "There's your bunny cloud," he said, pointing at the cloud.

"Um…" Glancing at him, she messed with the zipper on her jacket. "Sasuke?"

"I know, I know," he muttered. All of a sudden she found her wrist being held prisoner by his fingers. He gave a gentle tug and motioned towards the woods just off the edge of the trail. "I wanna talk to you, where they won't hear us," he said quietly at the puzzled look she gave him.

A light blush crept into her cheeks and she decided it wouldn't do any harm to talk with Sasuke…Shrugging, she followed him into the trees. "What's up, Sasuke?"

Before she could react, he whirled her around to face him and held tightly to her arms. He wasn't smirking anymore, and his tone was more serious. "Erin, I know Kakashi-sensei lied to me. Now I'll ask _you_: how did you get that wound on your shoulder?" He demanded.

Erin blinked, taken aback by the question. Then again, anything that might help him defeat his brother would make him happy. With that in mind, she averted her gaze. "What's it matter?"

His grip tightened and she flinched; he glared at her. "It matters more than you know. Tell me," he ordered.

Now _she_ turned a glare on _him_. "Let _go_ of me, Sasuke Uchiha," she growled quietly, not amused. She'd thought that he would have said something else to her—something sweet, maybe even romantic—but if he was going to treat her like a scapegoat, then she'd have to defend herself.

"Erin, this is _important_. Tell me who gave you that wound!" Sasuke commanded again, starting to lose his patience.

"Why? So you can have another reason to carry on with this 'avenger' crap?" She challenged, shoving him back and storming in the other direction. She couldn't stand the fact that he was always out to get revenge on his brother, especially now that she was really beginning to know him. She liked it much better when he was himself, but he only really showed that side of him to her.

Realization struck her and she slowed her pace, sighing a little. She turned and stared back the distance she'd come, smiling ruefully. "Sasuke," she murmured, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little.

_End Chapter 2_

**Author:** Wow. Yeah, so, **Axel's**** Stalker** wrote the last part, and she's very unhappy with it. Any critique is welcome. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling? This is really crap. It'll get better. There's a big fight scene coming up. :D Oh noes! Spoilers!

Read and review!


	3. Back to the Priorities

**Authors: **w00t! I do believe that this is some sort of drastic, the-world-is-coming-to-an-end type of event. What? Update? And it hasn't been months since the last one?! No wai :O

_Start of a Nightmare_

_**Chapter 3: Back to the Priorities**_

It was hard to believe it had been a whole year. A year in Konoha, training and keeping up with each other, had changed the three teenage girls more than they ever would've imagined. Erin was well past jounin level, and the speed at which she was improving was forcing Kakashi to schedule her training sessions a week or more apart so that he could get a break. (On those days, she usually called upon Sasuke for a sparring match to keep her sharp.)

Jiraiya had his hands full as well; the old Toad Sage was having troubles of his own dealing with Amanda's improvement. The blonde wasn't far behind Erin, and had even been offered a position in the ANBU Black Ops Unit.

Bryanna hadn't been much for fighting in the first place, therefore she had requested to train under Lady Tsunade in order to focus solely on medical techniques. She wasn't a terribly strong kunoichi physically, but her deep reserves of chakra proved unbelievably useful for helping her friends when they were hurt. The Fifth Hokage had been making sure she was up at the crack of dawn every other morning, keeping the quietest of the three girls on her toes. Recently the brunette had managed a jutsu that completely eliminated the pain Erin felt from her wounded shoulder. The technique lasted for a month, as long as the bandages stayed on it and the older girl didn't insist on working herself too hard.

Amanda and Neji were still just friends, much to Erin's dismay—but she constantly caught the Hyuga prodigy flirting with her friend. Not that she mentioned anything—considering she had a hopeless crush on a certain albino cockatiel, but had yet to say something about it. During the breaks they took in between sparring sessions, she and Sasuke would often lie on the grass and just…talk. She never knew he could open up like that to one person, and she felt herself growing closer to him each day. A large part of her heart was always pining for him, but not in the insane fangirl way. She cared for him more than that. She saw _him_; Uchiha Sasuke, not the pride of Konoha, not the elite ninja. The person.

Nowadays, the three girls rarely saw each other. When one was training, another was at their apartment and the third was shopping or something. When they _did_ meet up, it was usually brief and didn't always involve talking. But whenever they could, they wrote letters telling about how things were, what was going on—things like that—and stuck them onto the fridge of the apartment. That was their main method of communication.

Erin was the only one keeping her biggest news to herself.

VVVVVVVVV

"Are you ready to go?" Kakashi asked cautiously as Erin pulled her jacket on and tucked a few extra shuriken into the weapons bag on her hip.

Taking a deep breath and ignoring the fact that her heart rate had risen significantly in the last two minutes, the teenager nodded. "Yeah…I am." She'd been training a year for this, and as much as she didn't want to do it yet, she knew she was ready. If she thought too hard about it, she would turn around and realize that it was dead last on her list of things to do.

A thought popped up in the midst of her mind's racing and she almost laughed. "Kakashi-sensei,"

He glanced at her. "Yes?"

"My birthday's tomorrow," her voice was a little shaky, and she felt her fingers trembling too as she halfway zipped up her jacket and tied her Konoha headband around her neck loosely. "I'll be seventeen."

VVVVVVVVV

"Rasengan." … "Rasengan!" … "RASENGAN!!"

"Amanda, I thi-"

"I said _RASENGAN_ GOD DAMN IT!!!!!" Out of extreme frustration, Amanda slammed her fist into a tree… which quickly proceeded to topple over. She was thoroughly pissed off. The now-murdered tree hit the ground with a crash and Amanda glared down at it, panting. Jiraiya had been teaching the young blonde how to summon and control, yep, you guessed it, Rasengan. He would teach it to Naruto… erm… later.

Amanda had accomplished all of the steps, but for some reason she couldn't form the final product correctly. Jiraiya cautiously walked over to the enraged kunoichi.

"Ahem, as I was saying. I think you've had enough for today." Amanda whipped her head in his direction, glaring but remaining dangerously silent. She was sick of hearing that form people. 'You've had enough, Amanda' or 'Amanda, I think you're done.'

Clenching her teeth, Amanda stalked off, ignoring her bleeding knuckles. Once she was out of earshot, Jiraiya. Put a palm on his forehead and sighed.

"Sure she's easier than Naruto to train, but I swear, sometimes she can be so much more stubborn than him."

VVVVVVVVV

Amanda sat in silence at the kitchen table of the apartment, carefully caressing the permanent, sharp-toothed grin of her ANBU mask. She wasn't sure if she would join officially, but they had allowed her to choose her mask. She chose the one with the 'forever-smiling-face' because it suited her well. A mask of smiles shielding her from the world.

Sighing, Amanda picked up the mask and brought it to her room, placing it back in its hiding spot.

"Maybe another time." And then she was out the window.

Amanda jumped aimlessly through the trees, attempting to go fast enough so her anger couldn't catch up to her. Why couldn't she nail that _stupid_ technique? She stopped on a branch as a flood of painful memories came out of hiding.

She remembered all those times that Amanda thought nothing would ever change… and then how easily reality had come down; crushing them in a single day, a single moment… it was Itachi. Itachi had broken her, Itachi had made her the way she was, Itachi had been the one who made everyday somehow so painful, yet worth living, if only for vengeance, _Itachi_…

In a flash of invisible chakra, a spinning, lethal orb of crimson chakra materialized in her palm. She brought it up to eye-level and smirked

"Rasengan."

VVVVVVVVV

"La-di-da…Big birthday dinner for Mrt-chan…Wonder if she likes oden?" Bryanna hummed thoughtfully, scanning the stock at the market stand. Smiling, she slid the empty backpack from her shoulders and pulled 2,000 ryo from her pocket. "May I have some potatoes, cabbage, carrots, strawberries, leeks…and a box of Pocky, please?"

The market clerk smiled and nodded, dropping the items into her pack and handing her the box of Pocky. "Fifteen hundred, please," she said politely.

Bryanna handed her the money, closing the backpack and hoisting it onto her shoulders again with some effort. She would have to remember to pick up some miso as well, and some dog food. "Thank you!" She nodded at the clerk, tucking the extra 500 ryo back into her pocket. With a childish grin, she opened up the small red box and pulled out one of the chocolate-dipped breadstick-like treats. "Pocky…" She hummed contently, biting off a piece and heading in the direction of the pet store.

She sighed, russet eyes shifting to the sky. As much as she loved and missed her friends, she couldn't help but feel slighted that she was stuck taking care of the apartment and Ein. Amanda was there once in awhile, though, and helped when she could. Erin often left some money for groceries and other things. But really, didn't they know that she had training as well? She couldn't be mad, though…Amanda had a lot to worry about, with the ANBU dogging her to join, and Erin had seemed to have a lot on her mind lately too. She didn't talk much to her friends, which was very unlike her.

The almost-17 year old frowned a little, hoping that her best friend would take a day off for her birthday. Chances were slim.

Once she had made her purchases, Bryanna bolted for the apartment. She had to drop off the ingredients, feed Ein, and then meet Lady Tsunade—all in fifteen minutes. Damn it, she was going to be late _again_!

VVVVVVVVV

"Do you want to stop and see Bryanna first?"

Kakashi had taken quick note of the fact that Erin's hazel eyes were fixed anxiously on the path that led to their apartment. She had looked at nothing else for the last two hours of preparing.

But she shook her head, finally tearing her misty eyes away from the path and composing herself. "I'd rather not," she said, tugging at the key pendant that she had yet to take off. Joining the necklace was another, the pendant being a small silver shuriken with two letters engraved on the back: "_S & E_." She kept that one hidden underneath her shirt.

Trying to cheer his student up, Kakashi went on. "Well then, how about Sasuke?"

The effect seemed to backfire and she shook her head fiercely. "_Especially_ not Sasuke," her tone was firm, and for once she was absolutely sure of herself. It would be no easy task to tell Sasuke what she was about to do, especially considering she wasn't even sure if she'd come back to Konoha in one piece. The _last_ thing she needed was to have him worry about her or try to stop her from going. He of all people should understand why she had to go.

There was a stretch of silence, only interrupted by the occasional bird singing to its mate in complete disregard to the fact that all was not well in the world. Again, the silver-haired jounin broke it. "We could wait, if you'd like." At the look of surprise she sent him, he went on. "Until after tomorrow. I'd assume you would want to spend your birthday with your friends."

Swallowing painfully, Erin slowly shook her head. She _did_ want to do exactly that, but at the same time she knew that chances were slim she would make it back in time. If she came back. A delay of more than half an hour would cause her to rethink going through with her mission, and she wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Besides… "What would I tell them?" Shaking her head again, she strode quickly and brushed past her sensei. "Let's get going."

_Some time later…(Est. 5 hours)_VVVVVVVVV

Erin's breath caught in her throat as she tried to gather her thoughts. Here she stood, in front of the Akatsuki hideout, by herself—Kakashi had decided to stay a few miles back, in case she needed help. Her fingers tingled and she swallowed, hard. What was the plan again?

Before she could go over it once more in her mind, something six and a half feet tall stepped out in front of her. She tried to conceal her shaking as Kisame hefted his sword onto his shoulders and smirked.

"You must be a glutton for punishment, kid," he chuckled coldly, earning a glare from her. Taking a step closer, he shook his head in disapproval. "After we spared you the last couple times, common sense would tell you to stay away."

Still glaring at him, she took her fighting stance. "Guess I'm not much for common sense."

Swinging the sword down and pointing it at her, he chuckled again. "Apparently not. But, whatever—it's your funeral." With that, he headed in for the first attack.

VVVVVVVVV

"Ein! Look! Bryanna's home!" The corgi barked and ran to the front door of the apartment. Amanda had just dropped in to change and coincidently Bryanna had come home as well. She rushed to the kitchen to drop her groceries.

"Hi, Amanda, how's the training been going? Did you accept the ANBU's offer? Oh, wow, I have to go before Tsunade kills me, kay? Bye!" As quickly as she had come, Bryanna was on her way out, stopping halfway through the door.

"Did you feed Ein?"

"Yeah, hey-"

"Awesome-thanks-bye!"

"But--" SLAM. And then there was one. Amanda sighed, alone once again. She looked down at the rather anxious-looking corgi.

"Well, Ein, while I look for Erin, you're on your own again." Just before she left, Amanda made a last minute decision, grabbed her ANBU mask form its hiding place, put it in her pack, and _then_ left.

_In Town_

"Hey, Kiba, have you seen Erin or Kakashi anywhere?"

"Nope, have you Akamaru?"

"Arf…"

"Sorry Amanda, haven't seen 'em."

"Alright, thanks." So far, Amanda had asked Shikamaru, Tenten, Lee, Chouji, Sasuke, Kiba, and Akamaru if they had seen her friend or her friend's sensei; they had all replied with some form of 'no'. She was beginning to feel that something was out of place and rushed to find Jiraiya.

It didn't take long to spot the ol' Toad Sage and she promptly ran up to him.

"Now, Amanda, I already said you've had en-"

"Enough?" The blond interjected harshly, running her fingers back through her hair. "Yeah, I know, whatever, just shut up." Her voice had a rushed, apprehensive tone to it; Jiraiya picked up on it immediately. He knew Amanda wasn't usually this… outspoken, so he knew something was wrong as soon as she told him to 'shut up'.

"What is it, Amanda?" he asked calmly.

"Have you seen Erin or Kakashi anywhere?"

"No, I can't say I have…" Amanda eyed Jiraiya carefully; she could tell her had lied about _something_.

"Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"_Tell me_ where the HELL they are." Amanda hardly ever raised her voice, so when she did, you knew there was a good reason. Jiraiya sighed, knowing there was no way around this.

"Alright, but I can only give you the few abstract details that Kakashi gave me…" He sighed and closed his eyes. "Erin has gone off to challenge those two guys- Kisame and Itachi- in order to get even with them, or something. Now, if you ask me, she's been hanging around with that Uchiha too much; she's got that whole 'vengeance' deal creeping up on her…"

When Jiraiya's voice trailed off, Amanda's hands were unnaturally cold and clammy. And Erin said _Amanda_ had made some careless decisions? The young girl was suddenly glad she had grabbed her mask on the way out.

VVVVVVVVV

Erin fell gracefully back onto her feet after the assault she'd unleashed on the shark demon, not even breaking a sweat. It amazed her how fluid and easy her movements were in comparison to him, and it actually put her on edge thinking whether she had really come that far in a year. Hoshigaki Kisame was no pushover, she was aware of this fact, and from the irritated look on his face she wondered just how she was able to get six kunai wedged into his flesh already.

He was glaring incredulously at her, his heavy sword dragging on the ground as he caught his breath. It was very uncharacteristic of him to be losing. "Damn it," he growled, shifting his glare to one of the kunai, which was buried in his left shin. The six weapons had slowed him down considerably, even more suspicious to the younger kunoichi. Glaring back at her, he heaved his scaly blade into a swinging position that didn't hurt to use. "How the hell are you…"

She kept up her composure despite her nerves. "_Winning_ is the term you're looking for," she suggested, a devious smirk playing across her lips. The only worry she had now was why the fight was so simple. Actually, other than that, she was fully enjoying herself. It turned the smirk into a grin when he grimaced, clearly stung by the idea. "I'll bet it _sucks_, losing to someone you never expected to beat you." Drawing three shuriken and a kunai, she quickly rethought her plan of attack and darted towards him again.

As she knew he would, he used the Samehada to guard when she threw the first two shuriken—that was why she'd already prepared a shadow clone, which she nodded at. The clone, which stood in waiting behind Kisame, now nodded back and plunged its kunai in the final spot—between his shoulder blades.

He growled in pain, but used common sense and didn't drop his guard. In fact, he smirked. "Well, kid," he snarled, "you've managed to hit every spot that could slow me down, and I'm still standing. What do you propose to do now?"

The challenge amused Erin. Standing up straight, she made several lightning-fast hand signs and said, "Sleep tight, Kisame." As she made the final sign, the kunai (that were all still embedded in his flesh) all glowed a dull array of colors and a white light engulfed the shark-like Akatsuki member. There was a 'thud' and as the light faded, the cold form of a body was all that remained.

Backpedaling, the kunoichi stepped forward and leaned over the body, only to draw back in the horrible realization that this was in no way Kisame. What lie on the ground before her now was an average human, clearly no longer amongst the living; some poor, defenseless pawn who had been given a small percentage of the real demon's chakra and veiled in genjutsu. Swallowing hard, she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She had to remember why she had come; it wasn't only Kisame she needed to overcome. There had to be positives to this; for example, her own crude technique, 'Negative Chakra Jutsu,' had proved flawless.

She shuddered and turned away from the body, prepared to never use that jutsu ever again.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed through the air. They seemed to pause for a moment, probably by the fresh corpse, then continued—getting closer to her. She didn't look. Really, she didn't need to. She knew.

"I didn't actually think you'd come here. And to think, you took an innocent human life in your haste," Itachi's cold, emotionless voice didn't faze her at all.

She glanced indifferently at him. "I figured," she stated, ignoring the second half of his words. "You probably expected Amanda."

VVVVVVVVV

'How could she be so-?!' Amanda clenched her teeth behind her ANBU mask. In her mind, Amanda was saying how empty-headed Erin must be to do this so early, on her _own_, without telling anyone. But, deep down, she was glad Erin had sense enough to get this over and done with instead of putting it off until it was too late to happen.

The young blonde effortlessly leaped through the trees; every training session she'd ever had was running through her mind. Her hand absentmindedly rose and clasped the key-charm necklace secured around her neck, tugging on it rhythmically in a nervous habit.

So far she'd been traveling for almost five hours, growing more apprehensive with each passing moment. What if she was too late? What if she lost their trail? What if, what if, what if.

"Erin, I swear, if you get yourself killed, I'm going to murder you."

"Now that's not that way to speak of your friends." Amanda came to a near-crashing halt when she realized Kakashi was suddenly traveling beside her.

"Kakashi!" She gasped out from behind her mask. "I-wait…" She tilted her head to the side curiously. "-how'd you know it was me? And where's Erin?" Kakashi eyed her steadily.

"Well, I recognized your voice, for one thing, and your hair and posture for another. And Erin is…" He paused and sighed. "…Erin is about two and a half miles that way." He pointed to indicate a precise location. Without a word, Amanda nodded and took off once again, only to be stopped by Kakashi planting himself in front of her.

"Out of my way, Kakashi." Amanda's voice had a deadly ice to it; Kakashi remained unfazed.

"You aren't ready for thi-" Before the jounin could react, there was a spinning orb of crimson chakra merely inches form his chest.

"I said, _move_." Kakashi gave her a hard stare, as if determining whether or not her state of mind was in a well enough condition to handle what she was running headfirst into. Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed in defeat.

"Alright, fine, but promise me something."

"What?" Amanda snapped, obviously growing more and more impatient by the second.

"Keep your head clear." The kunoichi deactivated the Rasengan and looked away, slowly lowering her arm. Images of a certain black-haired, onyx-eyed young man flashed through her mind. Now she was even more thankful for the mask, Kakashi couldn't see her tears.

"I promise."

VVVVVVVVV

Itachi stared Erin down coldly, seemingly unthreatened by her presence. He spoke nonchalantly.

"Tell me; is Amanda here as well?" Erin's voice came out strong and completely confident.

"No, I came without her."

"What would possess you to do something so rash?"

"My hate for you." A spark of amusement flashed through Itachi's still-onyx eyes.

"Well, apparently your flame wasn't strong enough to keep the animals away." The Uchiha was looking at something over Erin's shoulder, and Erin felt her heart freeze. Slowly, she turned to see if it was who she thought it was, but praying otherwise. She didn't pray hard enough. The chakra presence and the way the girl held herself was unmistakable.

"Amanda…"

"Erin," came the curt reply.

"How did you find-"

"I looked." There was the tiniest bit of angry sarcasm lining Amanda's voice. Erin was at a loss for words, and it was at this time that the once silent Itachi decided to speak.

"How nice of you to join us, Amanda." He seemed to be staring straight through her mask to her emotion-filled eyes. Amanda turned her head the last few inches form the side so she could look straight at him.

"I wouldn't stay away for all the jutsu in the world." Though her comment was intended to be sarcastically amusing, it came out choked and dry. It was talking all she could give just to _look_ at him, forget about _talking_ to him. Erin leaped to her friend's side and spoke with a hushed, frantic tone, not wanting Itachi to hear.

"Amanda, you shouldn't be here. Didn't you ever consider that there may actually be a _reason_ as to why I left without telling you? You aren't ready."

"I'm just about at your level now-"

"I didn't mean you weren't ready physically." Erin stared hard at Amanda's ever-smiling mask while the younger girl couldn't seem to turn away from Itachi.

"I don't think…" Amanda's voice was shaky and cracked. "Erin, I don't think I'll ever be ready."

"Exactly." Erin shifted her concerned gaze over to the patiently- ahem- _boredly _waiting Itachi. "That's why you should-" Looking away was her mistake. With a slight jolt, the older of the two girls was on the ground, unconscious. Mumbling out a truly-sorrowful apology, Amanda looked away from her friend's lifeless form to Itachi; he was smirking. Did she ever see him smile? Yes, she had, but she doubted anyone else had.

"Itachi…" Amanda's voice was choked and almost nonexistent. Said young man cocked an eyebrow in response. The girl took a steadying breath and positioned her mask more securely around her face.

"You know why I've come…" She couldn't stop her hands form quivering; Itachi took note of this.

"Of course," came his reply. Both opponents held their ground, one much calmer than the other. Then, as if on cue, they both began at once at the same time. Amanda began a series of complicated hand signs while Itachi pulled out some shuriken. To her utter dismay, Amanda's shaky hands fumbled the very last seal. She stared down at them in panic, eyes wide. In her moment of anxiety, Amanda failed to see the two shuriken cutting through the air toward her.

Looking up at the last second, she had just enough time to instinctively being her arms up to cover her face, neck, and chest. She suppressed a cry of pain when she felt metal rip into flesh; one shuriken in each forearm.

Gritting her teeth, she examined the injuries, warm blood already dripping down the length of her arms. They had to come out but… no way. No way would she be able to pull them out of herself; things like that made her squeem.

Staring at her arms in confused panic, Amanda suddenly felt herself being pinned against a tree, arms trapped painfully over her head. 'Damn it… what is wrong with me? I'm better than this.' Amanda tilted her head to look up at Itachi, body trembling with fear.

Using his free hand, he slowly removed the mask from her face, gaze emotionless. Once her face was exposed, Amanda had to look away, only to have Itachi hook a single finger under her chin and bring her eyes back to him.

With deadly slow movements, he leaned down so their eyes were almost level. Now she couldn't look away, teary eyes wide with fear.

There was a moment of apprehensive silence, only Amanda's unsteady breathing was heard. Then in a flash, Itachi's eyes changed to crimson, causing Amanda to gasp. And then in another quick movement, and wave of unanticipated intentions, Itachi brought both of his hands up and ripped the shuriken from Amanda's arms. He stepped back, allowing Amanda to cry out and grip her arms against the awkward pain she was feeling.

"D-Damn you…" Itachi had used the Sharingan as a distraction, like what a mother would do for a child receiving a shot that they knew was going to hurt. Standing on legs shaky with overdriven nerves, Amanda sent Itachi a hard stare, not being able to glare at him. 'He… he pulled them out… for _my_ sake…' Was she supposed to feel completely insulted in this act of pity, or… touched somehow to think that he still cared somewhere for her? This simple, most likely meaningless act was too much. She broke down, crying with angry sobs.

In a flash, Amanda summoned her Rasengan and shot forward, shoving it deep into Itachi's chest. Now she cried tears of sorrow as she stared into his pain filled eyes. As the chakra faded, Amanda spoke in barely a whisper.

"…Forgive me…" Suddenly Itachi's form turned black and dispersed into a flock of crows. Amanda gasped and backpedaled into the tree once again. She was trapped in Itachi's genjutsu.

In the midst of Amanda and Itachi's somewhat one-sided battle, Erin groaned and rolled onto her back. Her hazel eyes slid open and she winced when the back of her head throbbed painfully. Growling a few curses, she sat up and immediately regretted doing so as quickly as she had—it made her head spin. Rubbing the back of her scalp, she sighed. "Damn it, Amanda…my skull's not _that_ thick…" She muttered, glancing up as her senses came back to her. It took her mind a moment to catch up. She thought, 'Field, cloudiness, tree, Manda-chan and Weasel-san…' Suddenly everything clicked and she couldn't get onto her feet fast enough.

As she darted to the younger girl's side, she vaguely wondered why Itachi wasn't around. It didn't matter much at this point, though—she had to remember how to snap a person out of genjutsu.

Kneeling next to Amanda, she shook her friend's shoulders. "Manda-chan, c'mon! Fight it!" She called helplessly, starting to panic a little. She was happy to have made the progress they had, considering Amanda's mental stability—if she was trapped in tsukuyomi for too long, it would amount to nothing. The thought was horrible. "Amanda! Don't you _dare_ quit on me!" There were tears forming in her eyes as she gripped the other girl's shoulders desperately, earning no response from the unconscious girl. "We didn't come this far to regress!"

"She can't hear you, Erin," Itachi's cold voice echoed back to her pleas, the young man standing—unfazed—just two feet behind her. Her shoulders tensed and she almost glared at him, but a flash of insight made her grab Amanda's discarded ANBU mask and put it on. It fit awkwardly, but would serve its purpose.

She rose to her feet again, turning and glaring through the mask at Itachi. "I don't think you understand me too well," she growled through clenched teeth, poising for her second fight of the day. "When my friends are threatened, I turn nasty. The way you treat Amanda, when she believed in you for so long, when she _trusted_ you…that's what sparked my _hate_ for you." Without another word, she attacked with angered speed.

VVVVVVVVV

"Alright," Tsunade put her hands on her hips and allowed a small smile for her exhausted student. "That's enough for today."

Bryanna fell over backwards, lying spread-eagle on the ground, and sighed in relief. "THERE _IS _A GOD!" She yelled in exasperation, breathing heavily and closing her eyes.

Tsunade chuckled. "If you weren't always late, you know, I wouldn't have to punish you with the extra two hours a day," she pointed out.

Knowing it was true, Bryanna sighed again. She dreamt of the box of Pocky that resided her in bag, which was resting against a tree not far off. How she wanted just one bite for her troubles; sweet, forgiving Pocky…

"Bryanna!"

Sitting up with mild irritation that someone had broken her reverie, the girl's eyes found a certain black-haired, onyx-eyed teenage boy running up the hill to meet her. Tilting her head to the side curiously, she drew up her knees and said, "Hey, Sasuke. What's goin' on?"

Sasuke stood a few feet away from her, pale features looking troubled. "Have you seen Erin? Amanda was looking for her earlier, and I haven't seen her in a few days," he explained.

The girl tilted her head again. "Sorry, Sasuke. I've been here all afternoon,"

Frowning, the Uchiha's gaze shifted to Tsunade. "Lady Hokage, what about you?"

The woman's russet eyes blinked once, then she shook her head a bit too sharply. "Nope," was her short reply.

Unconvinced, Sasuke folded his arms. "Really?"

VVVVVVVVV

Erin's gaze flickered to her charred right hand, her mind cursing. She was ducked behind a tree, trying to catch her breath. The clone that Kisame had left for her to defeat had been easy enough, but she wasn't even able to _hit_ Itachi with her weapons—let alone get close enough to finish a jutsu that would work. Even her chidori had failed her. She shot a glance at the still-out-of-touch Amanda, morbid curiosity driving her to wonder what kinds of images her friend was seeing. Her concentration was broken as a shuriken wedged into the tree just above her head, and she had to dart away and rejoin the fight.

VVVVVVVVV

A swarm of charcoal feathers flew up in a vortex around her. It was dizzying, trancelike. Amanda swayed back and forth as the flutter of wings became muffled. With unwillingly tired eyes, she peered through the barrier of crows. She saw him there, Itachi, watching her. Glistening streaks of tears, both new and old, stained her cheeks, turning her eyes an irritated pink.

"Itachi…" Amanda whispered, mesmerized and exhausted. Slowly, she reached for him, bringing an arm up from her side and holding it in front of her. Itachi's onyx eyes were soft and he stepped forward, reaching through the swarming birds to take her hand.

A smile tugged at Amanda's mouth as she took a small step forward.

"Thank yo-… no…" Her glazed eyes widened, as did Itachi's; hers from shock, his from pain. She looked down at her hand. Secured there she saw a now crimson katana, dripping with blood, piercing Itachi's heart. Amanda released the blade immediately and stepped back.

"No… Itachi, I-I-" She broke down again. A new wave of tears. A fresh series of heart-wrenched sobs. Amanda watched helplessly as, for the she didn't know _what_ number of times, Itachi crumpled to the ground, bloody tears running freely from his eyes.

"No, Itachi, please! I-!" A surge of wind caused Amanda to cover her face with her arms. She listened as the crows flew faster and faster around her. The blonde grit her teeth, fighting desperately to regain control over her genjutsu-enslaved body. She had to act quickly; this was the only point in which Itachi's focus would be entirely on her. He had to reset the illusion. 'Come one, come one… I can't go through that again'.

Then she felt it. For a moment, Amanda felt freewill in her body. Now she just had to hold onto it. Opening her eyes, she noticed that the crows seemed to be breaking down into nothingness. 'It must be working… now's my chance'. Bringing her hands together in the release sign, she concentrated, but just when she was about to give the command, a pair of strong arms reached around from behind her and pulled her hands apart by their wrists.

Amanda felt her entire body tense when she put two and two together. The frightened girl struggled to bring her hands back together; they were so close… but Itachi kept them separated effortlessly.

"You can't kill me, Amanda."

"N-No! I _will_ defeat you…"

"Yes, but you can't _kill_ me." Amanda couldn't throw anything back at him to prove otherwise. The tears; she could feel them coming, but she couldn't hold them back. "Poor Amanda. Life must have been so hard for you this past year-"

"…shut up…"

"-no true family; friends at higher levels; me in your nightmares-"

"Shut up."

"-or-" Amanda suddenly felt breath on her ear as Itachi leaned down. "-was it your _dreams_?" She couldn't take this anymore. Itachi was using her emotions against her. With a final sob, Amanda concentrated her chakra together.

"Release!!" It… worked. Without a hand sign, it had worked. Amanda felt a wave of reality wash over her as Itachi's genjutsu broke down. 'Don't worry, Erin, I'm coming…'

VVVVVVVVV

Amanda's eyes shot open and the world around her spun in a dizzying motion. She got to her feet carefully and looked around for Erin and Itachi. She couldn't see them, but she could hear them. Reaching up, Amanda pulled a kunai out the tree beside her.

"Itachi… you're going to wish I _could_ kill you."

While she waited for her friend to help out, and that was help that she was ready to accept with open arms, Erin was trying to a) dodge Itachi's shuriken and attacks, b) send some attacks of her own, and c) keep the mask securely over her face to avoid the tsukuyomi. It wasn't working out as well as she'd hoped—the first goal was fairly easy to accomplish, as well as the last, but she couldn't manage the one where she needed to land a hit. She had to rethink her lame plan.

'Okay, so my Negative Chakra technique is strictly for people I can bear to kill,' she told herself, suppressing a shudder briefly as she tried to multitask. 'Chidori isn't going to work unless I can get close enough to get a solid hit, and even then he might dodge…' The feat of planning under pressure was not one she preformed easily. Dodging four shuriken and creating three shadow clones, she tried a new tactic and went down on all fours. Maybe if she could get at him from below, it'd be easier to hit him.

Before she could move, a sharp pain burned between her shoulder blades.

"You're slow," Itachi stated boredly.

Erin smirked behind the ANBU mask. "I'm faster than _you_," she retorted, a cloud of smoke swallowing her form. When the cloud cleared, a log was left behind and there was a kunai whizzing towards the older Uchiha. His shuriken was wedged in the log and he realized this just as the kunai pierced his side.

He glanced in mild interest at the knife, then back at the girl who had taken up residence in a nearby tree. "You're almost one step ahead of me,"

Realization hit Erin hard and too late when his voice came from behind her, and another shuriken was buried into her left shoulder before she could react. The jutsu broke when the bandages tore and the wound suddenly sent a murderous pain through her entire body. Oh yes, _that_ hurt. No good, son of a…but she bit down on her tongue, refusing to cry. The Itachi that she thought she'd hit disappeared in a poof of smoke.

Gripping her branch with white knuckles as time seemed to halt, she reached up and adjusted the ANBU mask. "K…kuso…" she growled, breaking the momentum and jerking away from the shuriken. Her move took her to the ground, but she didn't stumble despite the loose hold exhaustion had on her. Hazel eyes glanced over her shoulder—which was starting to bleed and burn—but as she'd expected, Itachi was gone. "Damn it…Amanda, I _need_ you!" She murmured, growing more desperate by the second.

She froze as, as if on cue, a wonderfully familiar voice answered her. "I _knew_ you were absolutely hopeless without me," Amanda teased, causing the older kunoichi to look up and sigh heavily in relief.

Erin jumped up and smiled brightly, resisting the urge to hug her friend. "Amanda, you don't know _how_ insanely happy I am to hear your insults," she took off the mask, handing it back to its rightful owner. "I promise it isn't broken," she assured.

The younger blonde smiled a little as she reached out and took the thing, but Erin took notice that she made a point not to touch skin at all. There was something off about the way she held herself, the way she took the mask, the look in her eyes…Something triggered Erin's sense of caution, and when she thought up a solution she leapt back and threw a kunai at the other girl. Just as the horrorstruck look on the illusion's face appeared, the genjutsu faded and the ANBU mask was left discarded on the ground.

She swore darkly, doubling back and darting for the mask before anything else could go wrong.

Before she made it that far, Itachi had her painfully by the back of the neck; she could feel the Sharingan burning a hole in the back of her head and she closed her eyes tightly, trying to repress a shiver. She'd never dealt with the tsukuyomi and she had no desire to do so anytime soon.

"I'll admit, I almost expected a challenge from you, Erin," the Uchiha's cold voice was right beside her ear and his free hand caught her wrist when she went to pull a kunai out of her weapons arsenal. "Then again, considering you couldn't even see through a simple genjutsu, I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed."

Ignoring his cutting words, she instinctively pulled the bloody shuriken out of her aching shoulder with her free hand and buried it into the hand that was gripping her wrist. It wasn't exactly a painful place to be punctured, but it was enough of a shock to make him let go. Quickly, she jammed her elbow into his gut and went for the mask.

A hand was already on it. Erin looked up in surprise and relief. "Erin," the younger girl began calmly, a new resolve burning in her azure eyes. This was definitely no genjutsu. "How dare you start without me!"

With the mask now in the hands of its rightful owner, both girls stood. Erin continued to glance over her shoulder, looking for the seemingly-nonexistent Itachi . Amanda, on the other hand, appeared completely at ease, never once scanning the area.

"Amanda, how'd you break the genjutsu?" Amanda took on a thoughtful expression.

"I'm… not… sure… I just… _did_." Erin looked at her friend worriedly.

"Are you…" She thought of an appropriate word. "…okay?" A gentle smirk played over Amanda's features, though her eyes clouded over at the memory of what she had escaped form.

"Yeah, I'm good. Promise." Erin nodded hesitantly, but appeared satisfied.

"Alright then, what are we standing here for? We've got a weasel to hunt down and skin!"

"Well, since you put it that way-" A mischievous glint flashed through the blonde's eyes and she took out the kunai she had picked up earlier. Without any warning at all, Amanda spun and threw the weapon at an empty space of air. She looked quite pleased when metal clinked off of unseen metal and her kunai dropped to the ground. "-phase one, complete." Erin, at first, looked shocked, but then smiled maliciously.

"Alright the, let's skin this son of a b-"

"Hey, watch it."

"-iscuit."

VVVVVVVVV

Amanda stood protectively in front of a fallen Erin. The said 'fallee' sat at the base of a tree, exhausted, trying to work a shuriken out of her thigh.

Itachi positioned a solid fifteen feet from Amanda, staring her down coolly with crimson eyes. However, even though his Sharingan was activated, Amanda continued to stare straight at him. Her ANBU mask had been discarded to hang loosely on a belt at her side. Erin thought she was insane, especially after noting that Amanda was _grinning_ about this whole thing.

"Well, someone's quite daring today."

"And someone else is a little too proud for his own good."

"Oh really? How so?"

"Oh, come on, I _know_ that you wouldn't dare use either one of your lethal Sharingan techniques; you'd strain yourself too much. Then the equality of either of our chances of victory would be lean so much more in my favor." Amanda smirked knowingly.

"Your logic only works if you don't get caught in either technique."

"I won't get caught; I know how you work with them."

"I always knew you would be too clever for your own good, Amanda. So-" Itachi leaned backward to rest casually against a tree, twirling a kunai around his finger. "-why such a drastic change of heart?" You weren't so… cocky before." Amanda's hard gaze clouded over, but she didn't look away.

"I've realized something. If a person, deep down, _somewhere_, truly cared for another, then that person wouldn't put the other through everything you put me through. I don't have to worry about you anymore, Itachi, because I don't _care_ about you anymore."

Itachi stopped the kunai midspin and gripped its handle tightly. His eyes opened with a deadly slowness and Amanda could have sworn she saw his Sharingan spinning. Erin spoke from her position behind Amanda.

"Uh-oh, looks like somebody struck a chord." Itachi stepped away from the tree and came about five feet closer to Amanda, positioning himself an unsteady ten feet away.

Amanda glanced behind her to Erin and spoke with obvious, solemn humor.

"Erin, shut up before Itachi hangs you with his chord." Chuckling somewhat nervously, Erin went back to fixing her leg.

"So, Monsieur," Amanda said, bowing deeply to the Akatsuki member. "Shall we dance?" And that's just what they did. Well, that's what it _looked_ like they were doing. Both Itachi and Amanda attacked and blocked so fluidly that it looked like some cryptic dance.

Erin watched in slight awe. When had Amanda gotten this… _good_?

The blonde seemed driven by an endless store of energy; even Itachi looked like he was tiring. After all, he had fought with Erin also. Finally, it happened. Itachi missed his step and gave Amanda the opening she had been waiting for.

With one, well-aimed kick, Itachi was slammed into a tree. Amanda was right with him, pinning him there with her left arm.

"It's over for you, Itachi Uchiha." Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; he was smirking. Amanda glared heatedly into his now onyx eyes.

"Amanda, I've known for quite some time that you'd be the one to end it for me." Itachi's gaze was steady, calm façade unwavering.

"Shut up." In a flash Amanda summoned her blood-red Rasengan in her free hand. And then, quite surprisingly, Itachi secured his hand around her wrist and slowly brought it up to his chest. The chakra burned through his cloak, down to his skin, which slowly begin to bleed.

Amanda's eyed widened and the fire within them went out as she struggled to pull her arm back. His grip was unwavering.

"You've worked so hard, waiting so long for this moment, Amanda; now here's your chance. Come on, do it,_ finish_ it." He was dead serious.

Amanda's heartbeat quickened as she began to panic. Blood trickled down Itachi's chest… it was so close… one push… _one_ push, and it would be over… she would _finally_ destroy the one person, the one _thing_ that had caused her and her friends so much pain… so… why couldn't she do it?

Her grip on his shoulder tightened as she continued to struggle her control of her hand.

"Stop it, stop it, stop it! Let GO of me!" Amanda's voice took on a high-pitched, frightened tone. Her mind raced, thoughts confused and scatted. She couldn't do this; this wasn't who she was. She wasn't a… a _murderer_. 'I know, I'll cancel the jutsu…' Nothing worked. 'Damn it! I exerted too much chakra… calling it back would shred my network. Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!'

"Do it Amanda."

"Shut up…"

"Finish it."

"Shut. Up."

"_Do it_."

"Stop it! Shut UP!! DAMN IT, SHUT THE HELL UP!!!"

Itachi stared hard into Amanda's desperate, angry, pleading eyes.

"Kill me."

"…"

"_Kill me_."

"I CAN'T!"

With a final tug, Itachi released his hold on Amanda's arm, allowing her to slam the Rasengan into the ground, thus creating a fairly large crater.

A shaking, sobbing young girl, supported by her hands and knees, stayed where she was, watering the ground with her tears. A violent tremor passed through her as each sob, long ago locked away, was released. When she spoke, her voice was barely coherent.

"… I-I… I can't…" Amanda flinched violently when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but did nothing to avoid the electrifyingly gentle contact. When Itachi spoke, it was the voice Amanda had long ago stopped dreaming about.

"I know."

Erin, who had been watching with wide hazel eyes while still trying to work the shuriken out of her thigh, let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and cried, "Oh, thank heaven!" Her right arm (the one holding onto the shuriken) involuntarily jerked as though on cue, hard enough to rip the bloody weapon out of her wound. She froze. "…Ow." Her voice was merely a whimper. But the pain was nothing compared to the relief that washed over her at the fact that Itachi and Amanda had not killed each other.

Before she could celebrate, a sound in the trees around them caught her attention. Her well-trained hearing recognized the way the footsteps fell, as well as the whispering voices that passed from one to the other. Three ninja, at least…wait, maybe there were five. She caught Bryanna's voice, as well as Kakashi's familiar shifting of weight, and then Neji…but the fourth and fifth ninja were silent and she couldn't even hear them moving.

Wincing as she forced herself up, she stumbled and almost fell again—only to be caught and propped up against someone's chest. Now she knew who the fourth ninja was, and the movement she'd made to get up made her realize just how tired she was.

"Erin, say something!" Bryanna's panic was hidden in her quiet voice, but after knowing her for so long Erin caught it.

She groaned and gripped at the dark blue t-shirt holding her up, trying to support her own weight. Her shoulder was caked with blood and her thigh stung badly. "BB, what are you…"

The younger girl cut her off with a tight hug. "Hold on, I'll fix you. Let go of her for a sec, Sasuke," her tone was still hushed and Erin realized that they were trying not to let Itachi know of their presence.

She felt the younger Uchiha tense up, then felt his deep voice reverberating in his chest as he spoke. "Fix her thigh for now. It looks like her shoulder's stopped bleeding." She caught an undertone of 'I don't plan on letting go, so don't bother asking,' which made her giggle a little. She stayed fairly still while Bryanna's familiar warm chakra prodded the stinging wound on her leg.

Suddenly, Neji growled as though he had just seen something very horrible. "Amanda," he hissed, glaring murderously at Itachi through the trees when Erin looked up in alarm.

Quickly as she could, she jerked away from Sasuke and Bryanna (earning an undignified squeak from the medic in training) and limped over to grip the Hyuga's arm. "No, Neji-kun, you're missing a _huge _piece of this situation, and you shouldn't jump to conclusions!" She tried to talk quietly and urgently, a pointless combination when she was this tired.

It became clear immediately that Neji had drawn his conclusion already and wasn't listening to her. He had, in fact, already activated his byakugan and was prepared to murder Itachi if need be. She groaned. "Nejiii…" A wave of exhaustion hit her and she swayed dangerously, feeling Sasuke's arms around her again. She fought to stay awake, shaking her head heavily.

"No, he's not going to hurt her!" She insisted, her words starting to slur from sleep deprivation. Her feet were suddenly out form under her and she was held 'bridal style.' Knowing that no one was listening to her tired pleas, she growled and yelled, "AMANDA, ITACHI! Get outta there!"

Neji was already through the trees and into the scarred battle field, closely followed by Kakashi and Jiraiya (who had apparently been the fifth ninja).

Sasuke and Bryanna stared at her like she'd just done something completely stupid and reckless. "Erin, what the hell did you _do_?" Bryanna whispered, horrified.

But the older girl was so tired, she gave in and laid her head on Sasuke's shoulder, breathing in deeply and falling asleep.

_End Chapter_

**Authors: ** Holy. Crap. That was possibly the longest chapter ever…OMG 21 PAGES. TYPED. What is WRONG with us?????

Urgh. This took til five AM this morning to type HALF of. It's now 3 PM and we're finally DONE. Good God, I hope this makes you people happy. (Dies.)


	4. Another Step Forward

Authors: Okay…

**Authors**: Okay….first and foremost…**Subai-chan **and I have a confession to make. This is in response to the reader **Selene98**, who pointed out that there was something they believed was missing.

Well, ok. The truth is, we've been caught! This is the sequel to a story that was never finished. Bonds were formed that you may notice being broken in this story. There is back-story to this….but…unfortunately…

The original fic, Not Again, cannot be published. It was left at someone's house and now neither of us can find it. I know, I know. Sad. All weep now with your grief. But, anyways…

We don't own Naruto! Here's chapter four! Which…**Subai-chan** would like you all to know, she couldn't stand, but made corrections to until it was alright.

_Start of a Nightmare_

_**Chapter 4: Another Step Forward**_

Something wet and cold touched Erin's fingers, warm breath tickling her skin as she started to reawaken. She giggled a little, opening her eyes halfway and smiling at the cheerful corgi that was sniffing and licking at her hand. "Hiya, Einstein Winston Charleston," she greeted, her voice thick with sleep. A soft chuckle reached her ears from beside her bed—as she noticed, she was back in the apartment—and her hazel eyes shifted in the direction of the familiar sound.

The raven-haired adolescent beside her was sitting in a chair, leaning on the bed with his hands folded together and hiding a genuine smile, like one she'd never seen on his face before. She blinked a little at the sight, wondering if she might still be dreaming. "That's quite a name for a dog," he pointed out, the tone laced within his words just as odd as the smile on his face. His voice was almost soft, gentle even…Now she was convinced she was still asleep.

Shrugging it off a little, she sat up and leaned against the headboard as the corgi jumped onto the bed and nestled down beside her. She scratched him behind the ear and ignored the light pink color rising in her cheeks. "I know…we call him Ein for short," she explained simply, wincing a little at a twinge of pain in her thigh.

Another brief glance at Sasuke caused the memories of what happened before she'd fallen asleep to come back and wiped the disbelieving smile from her face; ignoring the pain, she shifted quickly onto her hands and knees, looking urgently into his charcoal eyes that were so like Itachi's. "What'd I miss? Is Neji okay? Did Itachi escape—and what about Amanda?" Her tone was rushed and she only stopped asking questions when he clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Calm down," he ordered firmly, the smile fading.

She almost glared at him, but eased herself back and sat cross-legged with her arms folded across her chest.

Pulling his hand away, he took a deep breath. "Neji's fine. So is the rest of the rescue team that was sent after you two; Amanda is just as well. Itachi escaped," the spark in his eyes was unmistakably irritation as he let the unfinished thought hover for a moment, long enough for her to hear it: it was her fault the weasel had gotten free. "Although, Amanda and Neji aren't on what you'd call 'good terms' right now."

Erin sighed, taking her headband off of the bedside table and tying it over her eyes. "I don't blame Manda-chan for being mad. Neji shouldn't have jumped to such an awful conclusion," she murmured, folding her arms again. Although she couldn't see, she heard him chuckle.

The younger Uchiha reached forward, leaning closer and lifting one side of her headband with two fingers—now he could see into one of her hazel eyes. He was mere centimeters away from her, their noses almost touching. "If I was Neji, and you were Amanda," he began softly, "I probably would have jumped to the same conclusion."

Their eyes locked like that for a moment, she felt her heart thudding against her ribs and swallowed to moisten her suddenly-dry throat. He was so close to her, closer than he'd ever gotten before...did it mean anything? She had never fawned over him, like Ino and Sakura tended to; she had merely been his friend and done everything she could to help him where he wanted it. Had that won her a place in his heart, the same place that he held in her own? "Sasuke…" She murmured lightly, suddenly aware that he was moving closer.

Before the moment could be completed, a loud 'crash' resounded from behind the closed door. Ein whimpered and jumped off the bed, trotting over to the door and scratching at it commandingly. Erin glanced at him, mildly disappointed as she pulled the headband off and slid off the bed, deciding that it was probably better left alone and going to open the door. The corgi led the way into the living room and she followed, Sasuke not far behind.

The room was a mess. Neji was pinned against the wall by two kunai, and Amanda was holding one to his throat. "TAKE IT _BACK_, Neji Hyuga!" She ordered with a tone that was not like her at all. He must have done something very wrong to her.

The Hyuga prodigy glared at her defiantly, but said nothing. Amanda's jaw visibly clenched.

"Amanda?" Erin rushed over and gripped Amanda's kunai-wielding arm; the blonde's eyes never left Neji's.

"_Yes, Erin_?"

The elder kunoichi shrunk back. "N-nothing…just…play nicely!" She then proceeded to take Sasuke's hand and duck out of harm's way…behind the sofa.

"Neji. Take. It. _Back_." Amanda's voice was just as smooth as the Hyuga's usually was. For a moment, there was silence.

"Why _defend _him? He's done nothing but hurt you,"

"You're wrong! He's done more than that! More than you could know!" Amanda suddenly found the window much more interesting. She couldn't keep the sadness from her voice. "He's made me who I _am_." Her knuckles turned white as her grip on the kunai tightened. "If not for Itachi, I wouldn't have had anything to fight toward, nothing to make me want to work as hard as I did—"

"_You're_ wrong,"

With a well-measured jerk and some chakra, Neji dislodged the kunai that were pinning him to the wall and grabbed Amanda's wrists. She gasped. 'I blinked…what happened?' She instinctively struggled against his hold, and when she wouldn't stop squirming he pinned her against the wall. She growled and looked away.

"You would have found something more rewarding to work for," Neji smiled and his voice softened. "I would've helped you get there."

Erin peeked out from behind the couch, and then ducked back behind it when she saw the moment unfolding. Sasuke, who had been caught off guard by her shoving him into their hiding spot, rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head where the offending wall had connected with it. Erin giggled and kneeled in front of him, smiling broadly. He raised a brow, smirking a bit.

"What's so funny?" He challenged.

She bit her lower lip and tried to force back her giggle fit. "Manda and Neji, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Her voice was different than usual; more like the playful, fun-loving voice she'd had the day he met her. The one that had always irritated him a little. It threw into sharp relief just how much the last year had changed her.

Still smirking, he leaned forward and tugged lightly on the shuriken pendant hanging around her neck. "Aren't _you_ a nice friend," he sarcased, pulling her forward by the necklace.

Her cheeks burned at how close he was and his warm breath on her lips caused her heart to pick up pace, hammering violently in her chest. She swallowed a little and her eyelids fluttered closed as she moved in even closer, ready to meet him halfway…

"Whatcha doin'?" Bryanna's voice, mischievous and teasing, made Erin jump and yelp in surprise. She fell backwards, away from Sasuke, and glared up at her friend upside down.

"Bryanna. Nicole," she growled, her glare darkening as Bryanna's smile grew.

"Yes?" The younger girl asked innocently, leaning over the back of the couch.

"Do you remember that little _talk_ we had about minding your own business?"

Bryanna's innocent act could have deceived anyone else; anyone who _hadn't_ known her for years. "Of course I do, E-chan!" Her voice was laced with sweet honey, that small spark of 'I know what was about to happen and you know you love me even though I ruined it' still quite evident in her russet eyes.

Erin sighed in forfeit, getting up and trudging out from behind the couch in a mix of defeat and irritation. It became apparent that she wasn't ever going to get a moment alone with Sasuke; not even on her birthday. And she was sure he was about to kiss her…unless that was just her own delusions playing tricks on her again…

She stopped dead in her stride and backtracked over her thoughts, her anger dissipated completely. "Omigod, I forgot!" She cried suddenly, whirling around and grabbing Bryanna's shoulders as the younger girl climbed off the couch. "I forgot, I forgot—"

"Calm down, Mrt!" Bryanna, still smiling, gently pried her friend's hands away from her shoulders. "Lucky for you, _I_ actually _remember_ your birthday." As if on cue, there came a knock on the apartment door and her smile turned into a full-fledged grin of satisfaction. Skipping away from her bewildered best friend, the younger brunette headed to answer the door.

Blinking a little, Erin couldn't help but smile as her shoulders relaxed and her nearly-had panic attack receded. She had to remember to get Bryanna something really amazing for her own birthday, ten days away, and she mulled over gift ideas as she wandered to the kitchen to wait.

Within the next few minutes, the apartment was nearly full of people. ("What did you do," Erin had asked in disbelief, causing Bryanna to giggle, "invite all of Konoha??") Akamaru barked happily and Erin laughed, kneeling and wrapping her arms around the large mutt's neck to thank him for coming. (Because she's odd like that.)

After receiving a lot of birthday licks from the dog, she stood back up and next thanked Kiba (while she wiped the slobber from her cheeks with one sleeve). The Inuzuka nodded a little and gave her a fanged grin, mentioning something about ramen being his treat the next time they went to Ichiraku for lunch.

Kakashi's gift to his student turned out to be exactly what she had been after since she began training under him—copies of the first three books in the Icha Icha Paradise series, which morbid curiosity had driven her to want. She grinned broadly through her nervous blush and shrugged when Amanda rolled her eyes at her friend's excitement.

"You're such a pervert, Erin," she laughed good-naturedly, folding her arms and leaning back against the wall.

Quite a few of her fellow Konoha shinobi had also made an appearance; Naruto presented her with her favorite green tea ice cream and an instant cup of miso ramen, her favorite flavor. Hinata and Tenten teamed up to give her a brand new set of kunai and shuriken, handles of the kunai all with her name engraved in them.

Shikamaru gave his gift vicariously through Temari, (yes, even the Sand Siblings were there) while Iruka handed her a book that she had been eyeing in the bookstore for quite some time. She thanked everyone profusely, finding it enough of an honor that Gaara had taken time away from his Kazekage duties to be present. She didn't know the red head very well yet, though she figured if he had allowed Temari and Kankuro to bring him along he couldn't be all that bad.

Everyone received rather huge hugs from the excited kunoichi, even Ino and Sakura despite their obvious reluctance to be there and her obvious reluctance to have them present, before Bryanna announced that it was cake time and it was first come, first serve. Erin laughed at the stampede to the kitchen, a few of the shinobi hanging back to shake their heads in disapproval of their peers. Catching the glance of the Kazekage, who was standing beside the door with his arms folded, she meandered over to make conversation.

"Hi! You probably don't know me that well," she began, smiling politely and holding out a hand. "But I'm Erin."

Gaara eyed her for a moment with little to no expression, ignoring her hand and nodding once. "I know," was his simple reply. When she didn't move her hazel-eyed gaze from his features, he relented just a little. "Sabaku no Gaara. You're a friend of Temari's, if I remember correctly."

Smiling again, she nodded. "Thanks for coming," she said gratefully, pleased with the interaction. Now that introductions were over, there would be no confusion as to who was friend or foe. Talking with him a bit more about Sand Village and the differences between her own village and his, she waved goodbye and moved over to where Sasuke was leaning against the wall.

The younger Uchiha was smirking, at what she couldn't be sure, and when she smiled at him it seemed to encourage his amusement. Unbeknownst to her, he enjoyed seeing this cheerful, bubbly side of her. It had been long-since buried beneath months of training; seeing it again reminded him that however annoying it might be, it was still who she was. Who she had always been all along. Her cheer was nearly contagious—even his smirk was starting to turn into a smile.

When she approached him, the smile turned almost genuine for a moment. She took no notice of the people filtering back into the living room for some games and other things, almost every one of them holding a plate with cake on it. Lighting in front of him, she folded her hands behind her back. "Sasuke-kun," she began, her voice warm and sweet like an innocent little girl's.

He tried to fight back the twitch of his mouth into another smile, settling on a smirk instead and keeping his arms tightly locked across his chest. "Hn?" His tone was strained nonchalance, something she recognized in a heartbeat.

She stepped closer and leaned forward on her toes, bringing herself up to almost match his height. Almost hesitantly, she put her arms around his neck and dared to kiss his cheek. "You remembered it was my birthday, didn't you?" Her tone was almost one of warning, used to cover up her shaky words. She knew she was taking a risk being this close to him; the idea of rejection almost kept her away from him. Almost.

To her relief and surprise, Sasuke chuckled a little and hooked his fingers into her belt loops, pulling her further into his person. "Of course I did," he stated, turning his head to meet her. When his onyx eyes found hers, her breath caught in her throat. "You didn't honestly think I would forget, did you?"

A giggle from behind them made Erin realize that there were actually people in the room now and her cheeks turned a deep scarlet. She tried to turn her head to examine the faces of her peers, unsure how to react at the awkward feeling mixing with relief in her gut, but Sasuke released one of her belt loops and instead held her chin between a few fingers, keeping her focused on him. "Happy birthday," he murmured softly, pressing his lips against hers.

She instantly relaxed into the kiss, closing her eyes and sliding her hand from his neck into his raven tresses, a content sigh forming somewhere in her lungs. For that moment, everyone else in the room seemed to disappear.

After a moment that lasted forever, he pulled back to let her breathe (because it was clear she was forgetting to do so) and smirked again at the look on her face. It was somewhere between shock, excitement, and embarrassment.

"Oh, wow!" Someone laughed—probably Bryanna—as Erin's senses started to come back to her.

Sasuke's smirk twitched slightly into a brief grin, the Uchiha obviously pleased with himself. "So, birthday girl," he spoke in that same cool tone she'd always loved, grin fading back into an amused smirk. "What's next?"

Amanda, now quite cooled down from her confrontation with Neji, rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Oh, boy. I should've seen _that_ coming," she sighed a little, grabbing a deck of cards from the table and suggesting a game.

Still blushing, Erin moved away from Sasuke and went to sit on the living room floor. The raven-haired adolescent perched lightly beside her, just close enough to keep the butterflies moving in her stomach.

VVVVVVV

"You're so shittin' me! Bullshit, Piggy!" Erin laughed as Ino growled and picked up the stack of cards, muttering darkly. The large group had reduced to about seven people after a few rounds of card games: Ino, Temari, Sasuke, Kakashi, Neji, Shikamaru, and Kankuro. All of them, plus the residents of the apartment, were still seated in a circle and playing a friendly game of Bullshit.

Now, for those who don't know how to play Bullshit, it's fairly simple: you sit in a circle and divide a 52-card deck between all the players. (Usually there should be three or more.) Then you go around the circle and each person lays down one to four cards face-down, saying aloud "one Ace" or "two, three, four Aces," etc, based on what number is next and how many of that number they claim to have put down. (The numbers go around the circle in order: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and then the sequence starts over.)

If the person whose turn it is catches the last person in cheating, or they suspect they may have cheated, they say "bullshit." (Example, Ino put down three cards and said "three fours," Erin said "bullshit.") The player who lied has to take all the cards piled up in the center—assuming they were actually lying. If it becomes apparent that the accuser was wrong in their assumption, said accuser is forced to take the cards instead. Quite simply, it's a matter of guessing and false accusations, just like the Salem Witch Trials.

This continues until one person has gotten rid of all their cards by semi-honest means.

There's just one more rule: If a person cheats, but the person after them does not catch them in the act, they say "peanut butter" after the would-be accuser lays down their cards. This means that they cheated and got away with it, and is only used as a means to piss people off.

"One Ace,"

"Hn, three twos,"

"Twooooooooo threeeeeees!"

"Don't pull that crap on _me_, Amanda," Erin smirked and glared at the younger girl sitting on her other side.

Amanda gave her a sideways glance and smiled nervously. "What do you mean, Erin?"

Silence…Amanda swallowed. A clock ticked somewhere in the apartment. The other guests looked on at the two girls, waiting for what they all knew was coming. Then the silence was broken.

"Bull. Sh—"

"Shut up, Erin!" Amanda grudgingly pulled the rather large pile of cards over to her person and began the tedious task of organizing them. So far, Shikamaru had been winning with Temari close behind. Neji was constantly catching the liars, and this irked Erin quite a bit. Here, watch:

"One f—"

"Take 'em."

"NEJI, YOU CAN'T PLAY ANYMORE!!"

"Erin! Be nice to my N—" Amanda clamped her mouth shut, eyes wide as everyone became silent once again. Now every gaze was on _her._

The blonde shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of a way to redeem herself. "My…my…my nnnnew friend…!"

No one looked convinced; Erin stared, mouth agape.

"Umm…Finish without me!" Amanda dropped her cards in the middle and dashed from the apartment, Neji soon following. The group stared after them, faces shocked.

Looking around, Shikamaru placed his card boredly on top of the pile. "Hey, look. I won."

VVVVVVV

"Geez…that was waaaay too close," Amanda was lying stomach-up on a park bench a street or two away from the apartment. She needed the cool Konoha air that was picking up in a light breeze, toying with her curly tendrils of blonde hair. An arm lay strewn across her eyes and she released a deep breath. "I think I'm just going to blame this one on 'old habits'…oi…"

Memories of home, her own world, came crawling up from the back of her mind as she lay there, flooding her mind with visions of that big red house in the middle of nowhere; where Erin had always complained about the lack of cell phone service and the insistence of people calling her whenever she was there, where her family was, where her cat Fidget was usually curled up in the bathroom sink…it was making her a little nostalgic.

"Boy," she breathed, "What I wouldn't give to be—"

"What? Don't like Konoha?" That all too familiar, cockily-sarcastic voice caused Amanda's face to take on an almost unnoticeable shade of pink. She sighed, not bothering to look up.

"Oh, hey Neji…" Her voice was cautious. He was a master at reading people, after all; had he been able to finish her sentence back in the apartment? Oh God, she hoped not.

"Why the rush?"

"Hm?"

"I _said_," Amanda's cheeks reddened even more when a firmly-gentle hand lifted her arm away from her eyes. Neji was leaning over the bench, one hand on the back for support while the other clasped her wrist gently. "Why were you in such a rush to get out of there?"

Amanda struggled for words. "I felt…er…awkward?"

"Why?" Oh great, there it was. That look he gave that said 'I already know the answer but I'm going to make _you_ say it.' She hated that look when it was directed at her.

"Um…because I…don't like crowds?" Her voice wasn't exactly what you would call 'convincing' when she spoke.

Neji tsked and smirked. "I never knew my dear Amanda was a liar."

Okay, Amanda's face was now quite obviously red. "I-I-um…er-I…" Not being able to handle his gaze, the trapped girl turned her head to the side. She felt slightly dense at not expecting what came next.

Taking his hand from the back of the bench, Neji secured Amanda's jaw between his thumb and forefinger and gently brought her gaze back to his. She stared up at him, practically choking on her own breath as some of his hair fell down toward her. "You know…" He smirked, gaze as soft as his voice. "I hate it when you do that."

"D-do what…?"

"When you turn away from me." His voice was sincere.

Amanda smiled and laughed nervously, now _unable_ to look away. Her heart rate sped significantly when she realized that the gap between them had subtly been closing with the seconds. "Oh, um, I…"

He was now mere inches above her, deep chestnut hair flowing gently over his shoulders. "You're so cute when you're nervous," he chuckled, warm breath caressing her lips before he closed the gap completely.

VVVVVVV

It was getting late…almost three more hours had passed, and there were only three people left in the apartment: Erin, Bryanna, and Sasuke. Amanda hadn't returned from her hasty retreat from the apartment. Bryanna was becoming more and more tired with each passing minute. It was almost midnight, but a feeling in Erin's gut kept her awake and playing a round of War with her younger friend. Sasuke was sitting behind her, his arms draped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder.

She was fully enjoying being with him, and she was starting to think he might feel the same. Then again, that could just be all the cake she'd had.

Finally, Bryanna yawned widely and bid her friends goodnight before heading off to bed.

The moment she left, Sasuke's hold on Erin's waist tightened protectively and he nuzzled her neck, smirking against her skin as he felt her tense up a little. She still wasn't used to the contact. "So," he hummed into her neck, kissing her there lightly. She shifted a little before leaning back against him, relaxing a little. "I've been meaning to mention this…"

Blinking, Erin tilted her head slightly and consequently felt him kiss the new patch of exposed skin she had revealed.

"You're not like them, are you?" He continued, his low voice right beside her ear now.

She swallowed down hard, taking a deep breath as he moved away from her. Mild panic overtook her mind and she turned around to face him, left breathless at what she saw in his onyx eyes as they bore into hers. Her previous thoughts that maybe she had seen a side of him that had been revealed to no one else came into play at the shine, the same spark that she somehow knew was in her own eyes when she gazed at him. Something more than friendship—a deeper caring, a tighter bond. He really was feeling it too.

Trying to find her voice, she shook her head a little. "Ino and Sakura, you mean?" She choked out past her heart, which had taken a detour from her ribcage into her throat.

He gave her an amused stare, lips tilted in a smirk and an eyebrow raised further than the other. "If you want to put yourself on their level, feel free." Erin punched him roughly in the arm, about to swing around and pout childishly. "Let's not have this change into something else, hmm?" He pulled her back, his chest against her shoulder blades. His grip held firm to her hand, while his other came up to slide over her side in an enticing manner. "Let's not break the trance..."

Erin's eyes began to tear up as she leaned into him, his lips coming towards her neck to blow cool breaths on her skin. She wasn't sure why she was starting to cry; all she knew was that the feel of him holding her so close like this was overwhelmingly real to her. She never thought her heart would grow so attached to such an unlikely ally as Sasuke; the more she thought about it, though, the more she liked the idea. The kunoichi felt the need to know him, to let him know _her_, to tell him everything he might want to know…

She closed her eyes once to clear the tears from them, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for what she was about to do. "Sasuke…I need to tell you something," she breathed, her voice a little shaky.

His hold on her did not loosen. "Hn?"

Another deep breath, this one making her a bit light-headed. "Amanda, Bryanna and I…we aren't _from_ here. I mean, we aren't…"

"Erin," Kakashi's voice sounded sharply from the doorway of the living room, sending an odd jolt of irritation through her. "I need to speak with you." She wanted so badly to get the truth out; he wasn't about to stop her.

Squeezing her eyes shut and turning to face Sasuke, she gazed up into his charcoal eyes desperately. "I need to tell you something important; someone I haven't told _anyone_ since I got here. We—"

"_Erin."_ Kakashi's tone was stern and almost held a warning of what would happen if she disobeyed him. "_Now_."

She actually whimpered in impatience, unaware of the tears that had slowly been making their way down her cheeks in frustration. How she wished she and the Uchiha were the only two people on Earth right at that moment! Her heart throbbed painfully in her chest when the raven-haired adolescent reached up and brushed her tears away, kissing her lips lightly and breaking down every piece of her soul in the process.

She loved this. Why did she feel as though it was not meant to last?

"Go," Sasuke whispered, helping her to her feet as he too stood. "I'll be here when you get back."

Taking a deep breath to try and compose herself, Erin nodded once. "Of course," she breathed softly, forcing back more tears before they could come. She stole a last look into his eyes before pulling away and following Kakashi reluctantly out of the apartment.

VVVVVVV

Amanda leaned against the gates of Konoha, completely in a daze. A wistful smile played over her features. Had that really happened? Did Neji really…her fingertips subconsciously brushed over her still-tingling lips. Her first kiss; who could have ever guessed that it would be with Neji? He wasn't even supposed to exist. The dream-encased girl closed her bright blue eyes and sighed.

"Wow…" she breathed out, only partly aware that the others were approaching.

"Hey Amanda," Erin's voice sounded a little glum and _really_ agitated, but exceptionally happy at the same time.

Amanda didn't bother opening her eyes and her voice gave away her happily detached state of being. "Hey guys," she raised her hand half-heartedly.

"So, Kakashi, what was so urgent that you had to rudely pull me away from Sasuke?"

Amanda's attention heightened at this comment, but she gave no sign of it.

"Well…Amanda, you may want to pay attention."

"Yeah Amanda, pay attention!" Erin laughed despite her obvious irritation and went to shove the oblivious girl, but Amanda caught her wrist just in time. The younger girl slowly opened her eyes, still smiling, and let her head roll against the gate so she could look at the others.

"I was paying attention. But fine…" She let go of Erin's wrist and made a point of walking closer to the others. "Happy now? So what's this all about?" Amanda eyed the silver-haired jounin with little interest, but she couldn't suppress her natural curiosity.

"Well, just a short time ago, a jounin patrol…" Kakashi's gaze traveled to each of the three girls individually. "…stumbled across something…_interesting_."

Erin tilted her head inquisitively. "And that something was…?" She prompted.

"We think it—"

"Kakashi! Come on! We don't know how long it'll stay open!" Anko was suddenly part of the group, gaining confused stares from all three girls and a sigh from Kakashi.

"Anko…I haven't even told them yet,"

The violet-haired young woman blinked. "Oh," she stated, folding her arms. "Well then, get on with it!"

Another sigh from Kakashi. "Alright, so girls, we think it's a portal…" He paused, studying each face carefully. There was silence. Finally, a wave of realization broke through the confused look on Amanda's face. Her azure eyes widened with shock and a hint of…fear?

"No…"

Still confused, Erin studied Amanda's expression. Moments later, she gasped and whipped her gaze back over to her sensei and Anko. The former nodded.

"We think it will bring you back home."

Erin's shocked reaction was immediate and accompanied by a thin layer of mist glazing over her eyes. "What are you talking about? We _are_ home," she choked, waving a hand in the general direction of their apartment. "Konoha is our home."

Bryanna, who had been silently contemplating the entire time, put a shaking hand on her friend's shoulder. "Erin…" she whispered, "Home."

Suddenly it hit her. "Like…" her hazel eyes went from Bryanna back to Kakashi and Anko. "Newport?" She shook her head fiercely. "_No_! I don't—I _won't_ go back! I won't leave my friends, Konoha; I won't leave—" She bit her tongue when Kakashi glared at her, and the unspoken name hovered in the air for everyone to hear.

Amanda looked at her friend with absolute empathy. She knew exactly how Erin felt. The blonde remained silent, dozens of emotions stealing across her eyes. 'Home…' That word seemed so ordinary to her, yet brought on an immense wave of longing pain. Home…a place she hadn't laid eyes on in just over a year. Of course, Konoha was _a_ home to her, but…what about her family? Her other friends? Surely they were worried sick about them?

"Erin, I'm sorry, but it's been obvious from the beginning that you weren't from here…_anywhere_ even remotely _near_ here," Kakashi's voice was stern; he wasn't giving them an option.

Erin's voice was shaky, pleading. "No, Kakashi, please! You-you can't force us back! Please don't!" Her voice rose, mist over her eyes thickening and threatening to spill tears. She was not above begging at this point.

Bryanna stepped to her friend's side, resting a comforting hand on her back and giving Anko the same begging look that Erin was giving Kakashi. Her voice was soft. "Please…we've made ourselves a home here."

"I'm sorry, we've already spoken to Lady Hokage about this—"

"NO!" Erin was becoming hysteric. "You can't just _decide_ something like this! It's OUR future, our _lives_! You can't control that; we won't—"

"Erin." Amanda's voice was surprisingly sharp and harsh.

The older girl swallowed the lump in her throat and stared at her friend in astonishment. "Amanda…you're just going to let them force us back?"

"No, Erin, I'm not." The younger of the two gave the other a hard stare. "I'm going to very politely ask where the portal is, and then quite willingly walk through it."

For a moment, Erin was speechless, mouth opening and closing in an attempt to speak. "You can't be serious, Amanda…I—"

"Erin!" Amanda grabbed said girl's shoulders and jerked her once roughly, an attempt to jolt her back to reality. "Erin. We _are _going home."

VVVVVVV

Three kunoichi and two jounin stood before an elliptical aura of sparkling blue light. Three sets of eyes locked onto the portal, the other two locked onto the girls.

"Alright girls, this is where we say ciao!" Damn it, why was Anko so casual about all this?

Erin turned to give Kakashi another desperate look. The silver-haired jounin who had become her teacher gave her a hard stare and shook his head, causing the girl's look of desperation to flash into a scorching glare as her already-red eyes spilled more tears.

Bryanna took a step away from the portal, hands unwillingly trembling. "Please…isn't there any way…?"

It was Anko's turn again. "Look, girls, if there was we wouldn't be here right now, would we? It would be easier if you would just turn around and jump on in."

Erin laughed, harsh and dry without any trace of humor, but said nothing. Her glare sent all its fury over to Amanda.

The young girl's face was emotionless as she stared deep into the portal. The blue light gave her already-blue eyes an eerie glow.

Kakashi stepped forward. "Alright, enough of this. Through the portal, girls; _now_." He took a step forward in warning.

Bryanna's russet eyes darted frantically between the jounin and the portal. "No, but—" She was cut off sharply, followed by a gasp from Erin. Amanda had her fist rammed into Bryanna's abdomen. The stunned, winded girl struggled for air, clutching her stomach as she fell to her knees. Still expressionless, the younger blonde looked down on the older girl, bending down and gripping Bryanna's shoulders. A little roughly, Amanda shoved the other through the portal.

"Amanda!" Erin shrieked, fists clenched painfully. "Why…How…What the f—"

"ERIN!" Amanda's voice was deadly sharp as she whipped her head in the distressed brunette's direction. "_It's time to go home_."

A brief pause and a moment later, another sparkling aura—this one black as midnight—made its appearance. Erin held her Chidori offensively in front of her. "_No._ I'm _not_ going back."

When Amanda spoke, her voice held just a hint of sympathy. "Yes, Erin, you are." In another instant, the charcoal spark swirled with red light as she summoned up her 'bloody' Rasengan. Instinctively, Erin made a move toward Amanda. The latter made no attempt to move. Erin caught on only a second too late, and before she could save herself she too was forced through the portal by a well-timed kick from Kakashi.

The young blonde left behind stared sadly into the sparkling light before once again clearing her face of any emotion. Kakashi stepped to her side, also staring into the aura. "What do you want me to tell the others?"

Silence for a moment. Amanda's voice was chillingly smooth. "Tell them the truth."

"How so?" The jounin's voice was even.

"Tell them we left." Before she took that final step, Amanda grasped the pendant around her neck and turned to gaze at the village far behind her. A hopeless smile played over her features. As she stepped through the blinding light, one thought passed through her:

"_Home is where the heart is."_

_**End chapter 4**_

**Authors:** OH DON'T YOU JUST HATE US?? **-laughs maniacally…clears throat-** Right. Well.

This one wasn't as long as the last chapter—a stunning 15 pages! But at least something happened to finish off the plot issues…Anywho. Cyber cookie if you review! TWO MORE CHAPTERS TO GO!! And they are both notoriously short!

Don't you just hate Amanda near the end there? **Subai-chan** sure does. :D


	5. Severed Bonds

Author's Notes: Okay people, it's going to be a MIRACLE…but since chapters five and six are so short, I see no problem with getting them typed up

**Author's Notes:** Okay people, it's going to be a MIRACLE…but since chapters five and six are so short, I see no problem with getting them typed up! Not to mention the internet is down and I'm bored out of my mind…

**AnticipatedSerendipity, oOforeverobsessedOo **and **Subai-chan** do not own Naruto; if we did, Shikamaru and Temari would have a kiss at least ONCE in the anime and or manga. Matsuri would be Sabaku Kyuu'd, and Neji would get a helluva lot more screen time :D

Warnings, mild swearing…a bit of tension…**-AnticipatedSerendipity scoffs, "A LITTLE?"-** Ahem. Anger and stuff, because clearly Amanda did something bad last chapter…

Note: The things in the beginning are symbols of time passing. If you've read New Moon, this will not be new to you! Ciao

_Start of a Nightmare_

_**One day…**_

…_**two days….**_

…_**three days…**_

…_**one week…**_

…_**two weeks.**_

_**Chapter 5: **__Severed Bonds_

She had been numb for two weeks. Not feeling, not speaking, not really eating…she didn't answer to anyone who called the house. Her cell phone was always off. She didn't go to work. Her parents were starting to threaten her with a psychiatrist if she didn't "straighten out," but she knew they wouldn't really seek professional help unless she started to drastically lose weight or cut her wrists. She only ate once or twice every other day, causing her to drop five or ten pounds and making her complexion pale and tired.

There was never any light in her hazel eyes, which often gazed but never saw.

Erin had become a complete and total wreck, a stranger to her friends and family, and her own worst enemy. She couldn't even write anymore. The only clues to what was going through her mind were when she absently messed with the shuriken pendant on the chain around her neck.

She began to show emotion again on one hot, muggy summer day in the middle of her third week back home. She was home alone, staring blankly at the cover of a book on the floor in front of her and contemplating whether or not she felt like reading it, when a knock on the door pulled her to her feet. She flicked open the lock and turned the handle with a heavy sigh, looking up into bright azure eyes. Curly blonde hair was tied back, clipped up to make a poofy ponytail, and the adolescent girl was smiling curtly.

Erin glared death at her.

"Well," she responded casually, "I had a strange feeling you were ignoring my calls. This is going to stop, okay?" Her voice was calm and sweet as though she was oblivious to the look the older girl was drilling through her.

Giving a fake smile and laughing sarcastically, Erin spat, "Fuck you," and slammed the door shut so hard that her dog, Gidget, started barking. Clenching her fists, she turned the lock and continued to glare at the unfazed Amanda through the glass.

The younger girl shrugged loosely and started picking at her nails. "Yeah, well…I've been just fine these past two weeks…" She spoke nonchalantly, which visibly irritated Erin. Even as the frustrated girl stormed around the kitchen, busying herself with menial tasks such as putting away clean dishes and cleaning off the counter, the younger still spoke through the door.

"My parents pretty much have me on lockdown…I'm lucky I made it out today. They asked a crap-load of questions, though." Her bright blue eyes followed Erin, noting the bandages on her left shoulder. (She wore a tank-top that let them show.) "Is that healing now that the jutsu broke? It looks a lot better."

Well, that _almost_ worked. Erin froze and her right hand rested lightly against the bandages, eyes turning distant like they did when she was thinking. Squeezing her eyes shut tightly and shaking her head, she whirled around and yanked open the door. The teary glare she gave Amanda would've sent a shiver through Itachi Uchiha. The younger didn't flinch.

"Oh, so you plan on talking to me after all?" She inquired casually.

Erin's knuckles were white from her death-grip on the doorknob and her hazel eyes grew dark with hatred. "Amanda Almquist, you are in _no way_ welcome at my house." For being as mad as she was, her voice was surprisingly calm. Dangerously so. "Get the fuck out before I slit your throat." The threat was in no way empty, as she slid a well-polished kunai out of the back pocket of her jeans and pointed the end at the other.

Unfazed, the curly-haired girl continued picking at her nails. "You won't kill me until I tell you why I made us leave Konoha,"

The name made Erin cringe and quickly shift her hating glare to the floor.

A smile twitched at the corners of the younger's mouth, knowing she'd found the weak spot. "Sorry. 'That place,' then."

The older girl had no retort to give; she only sat down on the stool in front of the counter, setting the kunai on the marble-like surface with trembling fingers. Her gaze went blank and distant again and when she spoke, her voice was small and meek. "You have no idea…" she stared, unseeing, at her knees and tried to keep her voice from wavering. "You don't realize the scope of what you _did_."

Striding inside and gently closing the door behind her, Amanda sat down across from Erin. "No?" She prompted, waiting for the outburst that she'd been expecting from the start.

It started off slowly, as though she was trying to find the right words and work up to her anger. "I felt so _right_ living there; it was like I belonged. My heart belongs to Konoha, and all my friends there." Her voice almost rose an octave as she went on. "Naruto, Kakashi, Iruka, Shikamaru, Temari…" The next name she choked on. "…Sasuke…" It was getting worse, and now tears were spilling down her cheeks. "I didn't even get to say goodbye! And what about Neji?" Now she was glaring accusingly at her 'friend.' "How could you do that to him? Just run off without saying why or where to? Don't you care about him at all?"

Amanda stared back coolly, folding her hands together. "Are you through?"

Huffing, Erin buried her face in her hands. "Whatever," she cried, her voice muffled.

"Good. I guess it's my turn, then?" Amanda placed her folded hands onto the countertop curtly, unfazed by Erin's meltdown.

"Well, for starters, yes; I _do _know the repercussions of my actions, but you're going to have to get over that."

Erin nearly gave herself whiplash when she brought her head from her hands to stare at Amanda; the look she gave her was somewhere along the lines of disgusted shock. "How could you even…what the—"

"It's still my turn, is it not?"

"But—"

"Good. Now where was I? Ah yes, we've now arrived at a subject of greater extremity. Neji." For an uncatchable, fleeting instant, Amanda's well-developed wall shattered as she spoke the name. She considered herself lucky that she spent so much time wearing that mask of smiles after, and partially during, her stay at the hospital in Konoha. Her friends would have to start from scratch. "Erin, I miss Neji with all my heart and then some, but I know there's nothing I can do."

Erin looked more livid by the second. She spoke through clenched teeth. "May I continue?" Each consonant was sharp.

Amanda nodded calmly.

"What the HELL is wrong with you, Amanda?" Erin slammed her fists onto the table, standing dangerously from her seat. "After all this time, after _two_ FREAKING weeks, during those few putrid moments I saw you around town or at the store, I've never ONCE seen a SHRED of sadness on your face. You always looked like the HAPPIEST freakin' thing, like nothing was wrong. What. THE HELL!" Panting, Erin glared down at Amanda, who still remained unperturbed. Her anger spent for the moment, more tears welled up in the brunette's eyes as she crumpled back into her seat. "I just wish—"

"No, Erin, don't let yourself wish; it'll only be harder. It's like wishing to find a needle in a field of layers of hay when there wasn't any needle to begin with."

Erin stared at Amanda, sad, infuriated, and confused at the same time.

Amanda shook her head and met her friend. "Erin, just think; what were the chances of us going there in the first place?" A rhetorical question. The older didn't respond. "And now what are the chances of us ever going back?" Again, rhetorical. Only a glare in response.

"Precisely. So here's my advice now, Erin: forget Konoha, forget Sasuke." Erin choked when she heard those words. "Get rid of anything that came back with you, lock the memories away on the dustiest shelf of your mind, and let time do its job. Let yourself forget." Her eyes dulled suddenly as she stared at the countertop, seeing nothing. Her voice came as a soft, high-pitched, whisper-like sound.

"I've found that, eventually, you don't even dream about them anymore."

Erin's glare somehow changed to a look of pity, her tone softening to sympathy. "I'm sorry," she began quietly, gripping the shuriken pendant tightly. "Sorry you have to cope that way. I guess we have your dear friend Itachi to thank for that." Before the younger could respond, she continued, getting to her feet. "But I can't do that. Sure, it hurts; it's a deep wound, but I could _never_ forget Konoha. I don't think Sasuke would ever forgive me if I forgot _him_, so that's out of the question as well."

Now she pulled her well-kept headband out of her pocket and tied it around her neck like she always had—an act of defiance. "The dreams give me a reason to keep believing, to keep hoping. I will _never_," her voice took on a darker tone, hazel eyes drilling a hole through Amanda, "_NEVER_ just let them go away."

Amanda, regaining her walls, also stood from her seat, her movements much slower than Erin's. She locked her gaze with the elder's calmly. "Erin, whether you want them to or not, those memories _will_ fade." Her voice was soft, but the sadness was gone. She walked to the door and placed her hand on the knob, speaking again without turning back to Erin. "The longer you try to hold on, the more it's going to hurt."

Erin's voice rose defiantly. "_No_. They'll _never_ fade—"

"Yes, Erin, they will."

"No—"

"The colors will fade and blur, faces will become hazy, voices scattered, names broken." Amanda's knuckles turned white as they gripped the knob more than tightly. Erin remained silent, staring hard at the blonde's skull. She barely caught Amanda's last words as she walked out the door:

"_Nothing lasts forever."_

_**End chapter 5**_

**Authors: **Told you it was short…where the last chapter was 15 pages, the previous was 22, this one was only 5…LAWL. I laugh at the sadness and lack of length!

One more chapter to go! Let's get those reviews rolling so we can hurry up and finish this damn thing!


	6. Living in the Past

Author's Notes: Waaaah

**Author's Notes**: Waaaah! This is the last chapter of **Start of a Nightmare**!! Oh what a wonderful ride this was…I'll be so sad when it's all over!!

...We know something you don't know ;P

Anywho, usual disclaimers; **AnticipatedSerendipity, oOforeverobsessedOo, **and **Subai-chan** don't own Naruto in any way, shape, or form. No further notes, let's just get on with it!

_Start of a Nightmare_

_**Final Chapter: **__Living in the Past_

The sky overhead rumbled, threatening to spill its warm summer rain. Even though it was close to midnight, not a star could be seen behind the blackened clouds.

A teenage girl rocked idly in a chair enclosed safely by a screen porch. A silver chain with a matching key pendant dangled from her hand, tangled in between her fingers. Her blue eyes were dull, expression pensive. She knew she should be in bed, where all her other sleeping family members were, but also knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anyways. Amanda tried; tried harder and harder with each passing day. But even after so long, even after a _year_, the painful memories would neither fade nor weaken. She often lose a half-night's worth of sleep because her dreams would bring her back…

"Why…" Amanda's gaze intensified to a glare, voice hinting at anger. "_Why_ can't I _forget_?" Her grip on the chain tightened a bit as she stood and stalked from the porch out to the driveway. She didn't stop there; she kept walking.

Her bare feet met cool, damp grass as she stalked past the 'used-to-be-a-barn' garage. She stopped just before the building did, where the thick grass up ahead was the start of the crowded Newport forest. The actual trees were about 25 meters or so from where she stood, eyeing the pendant.

"Maybe you're the reason. Maybe you're why I can't forget."

With a look of desperate sadness and anger, Amanda tossed the necklace into the trees, watching as it made a wide arc before disappearing into darkness. A stormy wind caused the girl to shiver through her large pajama shirt and thin capris.

"Maybe now I can—Huh?" An odd glint in the sky caught Amanda's gaze. She instinctively brought up her hand, catching whatever it was. A gasp left her lips at the key pendant hanging from between her fingers.

VVVVVVV

Anticipation welled up inside Erin's stomach as the first storm of the new summer slowly rolled in. She had always loved thunderstorms, for no particular reason. They simply enthralled her. If she remembered correctly, Kakashi—her ninja sensei from a little more than a year back—had tended to like them too. Then again, her memories were a little fuzzy nowadays.

A few months before her 18th birthday, her parents had finally stopped making empty threats and sent her to see a psychiatrist twice a week. At first she never spoke a word to the doctor, a 26-year-old man fresh out of college and sporting a diploma in his profession. His name was Tobi and he had startlingly green eyes that looked on her in understanding. Eventually she had come around and revealed her crazy story to him, relieved when he believed it and didn't call the insane asylum. They'd worked out her problems with detaching herself from the past, and now she was doing much better.

There was the occasional lapse, of course, when she thought to much about Konoha and broke down into painful, uncontrolled sobs.

Unfortunately, Amanda had been right from the start: nothing lasts forever. After the first eight sessions with Tobi—who vaguely reminded her of someone, though she was unsure who—the once-vivid colors of her memories had dulled and smudged. One moment mixed with another; they became jumbled and misplaced. Voices grew fuzzy. There was only one that rang strong and true in her heart, only one that she'd hung onto adamantly for a whole year. It belonged to the one person she would never speak about—in her mind, that was what kept the sound from fading away with the others.

But, it was a long time ago. She was older now, took it much better, coped well.

As the thunder echoed dully in the clouded sky, she absently played with the silver, miniature shuriken hanging on a matching chain around her neck. Lightning flashed once, twice in response and the breeze picked up threateningly. She smiled a little, almost in challenge, up at the blanket of clouds.

"Bring it on…from _anywhere_," she murmured, stepping off her porch and onto the lawn.

The rain came slowly at first, droplets lightly kissing her cheeks as she closed her eyes, and then the downpour started. Within minutes her curly tresses were soaked through and her clothes clung to her body. Her pajama pants were fairly dry, but her t-shirt was thoroughly drenched. It was cold on her skin, but it felt good. A new summer, a new start, another chance.

She longed to see that smile, the one that was so rare yet so beautiful; those onyx eyes that looked on her so caringly, the silky raven tresses she remembered. She wished she could hear that deep chuckle, that smooth voice telling her how stupid she was, but how much it didn't matter to him. The pendant around her neck reminded her of what could never be, and she respected that. It was a source of strength, strength in her weakness.

A twig snapped to her left, causing her still well-tuned ninja instincts to kick in. Her hazel eyes shot open and darted towards the sound. When she spoke, her voice held an amazing tone of authority. "Show yourself; I'm armed!" To justify the threat, she reached behind one of the stumps beside her porch and dug three of her favorite shuriken out of the rotting wood. She'd always kept her weapons, not ever falling out of practice. There were targets on the trees in the nearby woods.

Out of the shadows stepped a figure standing five feet, ten inches; a figure she immediately recognized. All three shuriken dropped from her hand and she felt her eyes start to mist over.

'Oh my…'

"_Ka…Kakashi-sensei…?"_

_**End Start of a Nightmare…**_

**Author:** Told ya we knew something you didn't!

This is the sad, sad end of Start of a Nightmare…but, as you can see, it's certainly not over yet!

Soon to come, for those diligent enough to be patient with us, is Shall We Begin—the long-anticipated sequel to this awesome fanfic! Hope to get lots of praise for finishing this…after all, we're definitely working hard here. Promise the wait for Shall We Begin will not be a long one! Not as long as **Subai-chan** has the binders…she types like a mile a minute or something…

Thanks for sticking with us this far! You guys rule just for waiting so patiently—kudos to you! Rock on!

**--AnticipatedSerendipity, oOforeverobsessedOo, Subai-chan**


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